Theresa May to green light pay hikes of up to 3.5 per cent for public sector workers
NHS workers, police and prison officers, teachers and squaddies are among those whose wages could rise
A MILLION public sector workers are to get wage hikes of up to 3.5 per cent as Theresa May bins the pay cap for good, The Sun can reveal.
The PM will today announce the biggest increases for squaddies, teachers, doctors, police and prison officers for nearly a decade as Government breaks for the summer.
Sources claimed the staff will get pay rises of between 1.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent for 2018-2019.
Most are expected to see a 2 per cent boost.
It marks the largest round of pay increases for the workers since ex-PM David Cameron introduced a pay freeze in 2010, followed by a 1 per cent cap two years later.
A Whitehall source told The Sun: “Our outstanding public servants work hard for us all – that’s why we’re announcing new pay awards.”
The pay deals are still likely to infuriate union bosses who have been demanding wage hikes of as much as 5 per cent to make up for money lost over the past seven years.
It is also understood the wage increases have come from departmental savings rather than the Treasury releasing new funds – meaning that frontline services could be under threat so staff can have more money in their pocket.
But one source said: “We have worked hard to bring borrowing under control – this is the result of all that hard work.”
Theresa May vowed last September to scrap the pay cap. Police were given a 1 per cent pay rise with a 1 per cent bonus for 2017-2018.
NHS workers were given a 6.5 per cent pay rise over three years in March.
The professions covered by today’s announcement include the Armed Forces, teachers, doctors, dentists, police officers and prison guards.
Today’s move comes after Britain’s biggest civil service union – the PCS – was forced to drop plans for a national strike over pay.
Only 41 per cent of its members bothered to vote in a strike ballot – below the minimum 50 per cent threshold. Some 85 per cent of those who did vote backed industrial action.
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But PCS chief Mark Serwotka admitted the union may now have to consider smaller scale strikes in certain Government departments.
He stormed: “Our members have delivered a huge yes vote for strike action and will feel palpable anger at not being able to exercise their democratic right to withdraw their labour.”
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