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Rishi Sunak on Thursday accepted in full the recommendations of independent pay review bodies to give key public sector workers wage rises of about 6.5 per cent, telling trade unions to call off strikes now.
The prime minister agreed the awards for 2023-24 after talks with chancellor Jeremy Hunt, when he was reassured they could be funded without increased government borrowing that might have fuelled inflation.
“Today’s offer is final,” Sunak told a press conference in Downing Street. “There will be no more talks on pay. No amount of strikes will change this decision.”
Sunak received an immediate boost when four education unions backed the government’s proposed 6.5 per cent pay increase for teachers, saying they would recommend the deal to members and call off strikes.
But the British Medical Association, the union that is organising industrial action by junior doctors and consultants in England, warned it was likely to continue with strikes.
The government has proposed a 6 per cent pay rise for junior doctors plus a one-off payment, but the BMA has been demanding a 35 per cent wage increase to reverse what it claims is 15 years of wage erosion.
Under the review bodies’ recommendations accepted by ministers, police officers will receive a 7 per cent pay increase in 2023-24, teachers 6.5 per cent, senior NHS staff 6 per cent, junior doctors 6 per cent plus a one-off payment, and armed forces personnel 5 per cent plus a one-off payment.
More than 1mn NHS staff, including nurses and ambulance crews, have already been offered a 5 per cent wage increase by the government for 2023-24, along with a one-off payment for last year.
The prime minister was fully aware of the political risks of fuelling public sector workers’ anger over pay — potentially aggravating a wave of strikes — if he had rejected the review bodies’ recommendations.
In a joint statement with Sunak, the NEU, NASUWT, NAHT and ASCL teaching unions said they would recommend the government’s pay offer to members. “This deal will allow teachers and school leaders to call off strike action and resume normal relations with government,” they said.
The prime minister said the pay offers could be funded without hitting frontline services and urged all public sector workers — including striking junior doctors — to call off their strikes now.
In a direct challenge to the BMA to end the strikes by junior doctors, Sunak said: “How can it be right to continue disruptive industrial action, not least because these strikes lead to tens of thousands of appointments being cancelled — every single day.”
The BMA said the government had missed an opportunity to put a credible pay proposal on the table to end the industrial action, adding: “This offer is exactly why so many doctors are feeling they have no option but to take industrial action as they have suffered years of below-inflation pay awards.”
The prime minister has been grappling with the biggest series of public sector strikes in the UK in decades — with NHS workers, teachers and civil servants demanding higher pay amid the cost of living crisis.
Junior doctors who are members of the BMA began an unprecedented five day strike on Thursday, and consultants are due to take industrial action next week.
Sunak said that Whitehall departments will have to find efficiency savings and reprioritise spending to help cover the pay increases.
This reflects how the wage rises are above the 3.5 per cent originally proposed by the government.
But Sunak also announced a plan to raise an extra £1bn by increasing visa fees and a NHS surcharge for legal migrants coming to Britain.
Public sector pay could now start to keep up with rising prices. Consensus Economics, which averages leading forecasters, expects consumer price inflation to average 7.3 per cent in 2023 and 3.2 per cent in 2024.
Sunak wants to halve inflation to about 5 per cent by the end of this year. It currently stands at 8.7 per cent.
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