Who has been offered what? A breakdown of public sector pay deal | Public sector pay

Millions of public sector workers ranging from teachers to prison offers are in line for pay rises of between 5% and 7% as part of a government offer that could head off some strikes.

Prior to the announcement, ministers had stressed the need for “discipline” at a time of rising inflation. Rishi Sunak warned that pay increases could not “fuel the fire” of inflation running at 8.7%.

While some of the offers are generous enough to be accepted by union leaders, the government will be hoping that the impact on future inflation will be limited as additional borrowing has been avoided and no more money is being pumped into the economy.

Teachers

A 6.5% pay rise is being offered to teachers in England in what appears to be a package that also avoids problems as to how increases would be funded.

The general secretaries of four education unions have said they will recommend that their members accept the offer and call off industrial action.

While unions have been insisting that pay increases come with extra resources from the government rather than being met from school budgets, the government is funding almost half of the pay rise by “reprioritising” within its budgets.

Doctors and consultants

Junior doctors in England are being offered a 6% increase, along with a consolidated rise of £1,250, while hospital consultants are being offered 6%.

However, the offer falls well below the 35% rise that the British Medical Association – the union for doctors – says is needed to make up for years of real-terms pay cuts and the 12.4% offered to junior doctors in Scotland.

What Sunak described as a “final” offer was made as junior doctors began a five-day strike in England, which is being described as the longest walkout of its kind in NHS history.

While the government has said the bulk of money for pay rises will come from “savings and efficiencies” in existing budgets, some money will be raised by increasing the migrant health surcharge to £1,035 and putting up the cost of some visas.

Police

Police officers, who cannot strike, are to receive a pay rise of 7% – the biggest award by sector along with that for prison officers.

The increase was described by the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, as a “step in the right direction”.

Borrowing has been ruled out to fund the recommendations of the police remuneration review body. The police pay rise is to be partly covered by increasing the cost of visas for workers, students and others by up to 20%.

Prison officers

Prison officers in the operational bands will receive an increase of 7%, with larger rises for support grades, and 5% for managers and governors.

However, the below-inflation pay rise has been criticised by the Prison Officers Association, which said members were suffering the effects of the cost of living crisis and would also have to wait until September to receive backdated pay due in April.

Prison officers have threatened to strike at a time when the Ministry of Justice is struggling to recruit enough qualified people to fill vacancies. The government said the pay rise would come from “reprioritising” spending within existing budgets and finding “efficiencies”.

Armed forces

Most armed forces personnel are to receive a 5% rise, along with a consolidated £1,000 increase. There are 5.5% pay awards for the most senior officers. They are also unable to strike but received the lowest percentage pay rise band.

The government is to fund the increase by cutting back on civil service recruitment in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) until March 2025.

Ministers rejected a recommendation from the armed forces’ pay review body that service family accommodation charges for those in band A should go up by 4.5% this year. Instead, SFA charges are to be frozen at 2022 levels.

Civil servants

Senior civil servants will receive an increase of 5.5% in line with the recommendation of the senior salaries review body.

Amy Leversidge, an assistant general secretary at the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, said the SSRB’s recommendations had been in line with the rest of the civil service and public sector, and “are both fair and reasonable”.

But a major civil service union criticised the freezing of recruitment relating to defence.

Mike Clancy, the general secretary of Prospect, said the MoD had made “a disastrous error that risks putting our nation’s security at risk”.