Government departments recommended a pay rise of 2.8% - but union bosses brand it 'barely above the cost of living'
10 December 2024, 19:44
Government departments have recommended a pay rise of 2.8% for public sector workers including teachers and NHS workers for next year.
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This pay rise comes in slightly above inflation, which is predicted to be 2.6 per cent in 2025.
Union bosses, however, have slammed the recommendation, branding it “barely above the cost of living.”
Independent pay review bodies will now consider the recommendation.
Unison head of health Helga Pile said: "The Government has inherited a financial mess from its predecessors, but this is not what NHS workers wanted to hear.
"Staff are crucial in turning around the fortunes of the NHS. Improving performance is a key government pledge, but the pay rise proposed is barely above the cost of living."
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The British Medical Association said the Government showed a "poor grasp" of unresolved issues from two years of industrial action and urged the pay review body to "show it is now truly independent."
Chairman of the council Professor Philip Banfield said: "For this Government to give evidence to the doctors' and dentists' pay review body (DDRB) believing a 2.8% pay rise is enough, indicates a poor grasp of the unresolved issues from two years of industrial action.
"It is far below the current rate of inflation experienced by doctors in their daily lives and does not move significantly closer to restoring the relative value of doctors' pay lost over the past 15 years.
"When doctors accepted their pay offers this summer, the Government was under no illusion about the need to continue to reverse the effects of pay erosion, the path set to achieve that in future pay rounds, and the very real risk of further industrial action if this was not achieved.”
The National Education Union's chief said teachers were "putting the Government on notice" that a 2.8% increase in England "won't do".
Daniel Kebede, the NEU general secretary, said: "Teacher pay has been cut by over a fifth in real terms since 2010, hitting teacher living standards and damaging the competitive position of teaching against other graduate professions.
"Along with sky-high workload, the pay cuts have resulted in a devastating recruitment and retention crisis. Teacher shortages across the school system hit pupils and parents too.
"A 2.8% increase is likely to be below inflation and behind wage increases in the wider economy This will only deepen the crisis in education."
Suggesting the UK could be plunged into another wave of strikes, he added: "NEU members fought to win the pay increases of 2023 and 2024.
"We are putting the Government on notice. Our members care deeply about education and feel the depth of the crisis. This won't do."
