MPs set for another pay rise of more than £1,000 next year in move which will spark outrage
Parliamentarians will be handed increase of 1.4% - well above 1% cap imposed on other public sector workers
MPs are in line for a bumper £1,000 pay rise – meaning their wages have jumped by almost £10,000 in two years.
Furious union leaders and campaigners let rip after it emerged politicians were almost certain to get a 1.4 per cent salary hike - to £76,011 - in April.
Pay for key workers from teachers to nurses, doctors and care workers continues to be capped at 1 per cent as the Government desperately tries to control spending.
MPs sparked outrage by pocketing a jumbo £7,000 or 10 per cent hike in 2015. They received a further £926 last year.
In a bid to end controversy, MPs’ annual pay is now based on the average growth in public sector earnings calculated by the Office for National Statistics for October – released yesterday as 1.4 per cent.
Parliamentary watchdog IPSA yesterday would only say the actual “adjustment” would be announced in the New Year.
But Unison general secretary Dave Prentis stormed: “MPs should feel uncomfortable that their pay rise is higher than that awarded to nurses, teaching assistants and care workers this year.
“Millions of families are experiencing real financial hardship because the Government has held down or frozen their pay for years.”
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He added: “If there is to be a limit on public sector pay it should apply to everyone. It’s time Ministers lifted the pay cap and give all public service employees a decent wage rise.”
John O’Connell of the Taxpayers Alliance added: “When staff across the public sector have seen pay rises restricted to 1 per cent to reflect the state of the public finances, this pay rise seems a little more difficult to square.
“Spending reductions still have to be made, so it’s vital that politicians are able to retain the moral authority to make the necessary savings.”
Labour backbencher Gloria de Piero led a small number of MPs who vowed to donate their 10 per cent pay rise to charity two years ago.
She gave the cash to seven schools in her Ashfield constituency in Nottinghamshire.
Separate figures in official job figures yesterday showed private sector pay is rising at 3.1 per cent - the highest for ten months. Unemployment dipped 16,000 to 1.62 million.
Employment fell 6,000 - but public sector employment rose.