Reality check: public sector pay freeze

Let’s unpack some of the chancellor’s statements and see how they stack up when they’re checked and given a bit more context. ‘Pay has been rising faster in the public sector than the private sector’ Pay rises have been higher on average in the public sector over the last year. However, they have been lower than the increases in the private sector for much of the last ten years.  Averages can be misleading – which was obviously the chancellor’s intention.  A recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) study that compared jobs on a like-for-like basis found that the average public sector worker was paid 3% less than a private sector worker in 2019 and had been earning less in terms of gross pay (including overtime and bonus pay) every year since 2014.  Public sector workers only earn more than comparable private sector workers when pensions are added to the comparison, because of the private sector’s widespread destruction of defined benefit schemes. ‘This is a pay “pause” for one year – and the NHS will be exempt’ This is in fact a pay freeze, and when inflation is taken into account, a pay freeze is actually a pay cut. This is because the cost of living increases, whilst wages fall behind. If rent, food and petrol costs are rising whilst wages are frozen, workers lose out. As for the NHS exemption, the chancellor did not commit any funding and has kicked this into the long grass of a pay review body process. Our membe...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article budget chancellor spending review Source Type: news