May lifts public sector 1% pay cap

MINISTERS yesterday scrapped the one per cent cap on annual pay rises for public sector workers.

In a first step toward dismantling the seven-year pay restraint policy, Theresa May’s Cabinet agreed that police and prison officers will receive remuneration increases worth 2 per cent and 1.7 per cent next year.

Other workers on the state payroll including teachers and nurses will also see more “flexibility” in their pay settlements, Mrs May’s spokesman confirmed.

But militant union bosses last night denounced the move as inadequate, stepping up threats of co-ordinated mass strikes in pursuit of demands for rises worth up to five per cent.

The Prison Officers’ Association and the Police Federation both rejected the proposal. And other union leaders, gathered at the Trades Union Congress annual conference in Brighton, condemned the offer as not enough after official figures yesterday confirmed that the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation reached 2.9 per cent in August.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady described the below-inflation pay offer as “pathetic”.

She said: “If ministers think a derisory rise like this will deal with the staffing crisis in our public services, they are sorely mistaken.”

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, threatened “rolling strikes designed to have an impact” and mass demonstrations to ensure ministers felt “hot breath down their necks”.

He described the proposal as “a pile of **** and it’s not good enough”. He said: “It’s a further cut in living standards.

“We’re clear there should be pay rises for all, the cap should be scrapped for all, there should be above inflation pay rises for all.”

And hard-Left Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite public sector union, said workers could flout laws introduced to outlaw strikes without a 50 per cent ballot turnout.

He threatened action as he warned: “People are angry. There is palpable anger. The law is wrong and it has to be resisted.”

Angry

Downing Street’s announcement yesterday followed months of speculation that ministers were preparing to scrap the pay cap introduced under David Cameron in the drive to cut the Treasury’s record Budget deficit.

Several ministers have acknowledged that the pay curb may have been a factor in a backlash against the Tories among voters with public sector jobs at the general election last June. A Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister agreed the policy change yesterday.

Her spokesman said: “Cabinet agreed that public sector workers are among the most talented and hard-working people in our society. They, like everyone else, deserve to have fulfilling jobs that are properly rewarded.”

Asked if the move means the pay cap was over, the spokesman replied: “The answer is yes.”

But he added: “There will still be a need for pay discipline over coming years to ensure the affordability of public services and the sustainability of public sector employment.”

Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation warned the announcement will leave many officers “angry and deflated”.

Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association said he will be seeking to take industrial action.