Do public sector workers deserve a pay rise?

THE public sector pay cap has saved the Government billions. In 2010, a police officer was paid £30,000. A four-year pay freeze followed by a 1 per cent annual increase for three years takes their pay to £31,000. If they had received inflation increases of 2.5 per cent in those years, their pay today would be £35,600. ROB HAWKES, four Marks, Hants. PUBLIC sector workers demanding more pay should try to find similar conditions and salary in the private sector. They know where they are better off. WILLIAM BOREHAM, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. ONCE again the unions are ready to bring the country to a standstill because their members want a 5 per cent pay rise. Many in the private sector have struggled since the economic disaster of 2008 with no rise at all, just the hope that they will still have a job next month.

RICHARD MARTIN, High Wycombe, Bucks. WILL the public sector workers go on strike on behalf of minimum wage workers and those with zero hours contracts who don’t get a pension, holiday entitlement or sick pay?

TONY THOMPSON, Banbury, Oxon. LABOUR should remember the private

sector will be voting in future elections, not just the cosseted public sector.

J. GAMBLIN, Croxley Green, Herts. TO GIVE a percentage pay increase only creates a larger difference between the lower and higher earners. A much fairer way is to decide on a figure reflecting the cost of living and give everyone the same amount.

Mrs AUDREY RUNDLE, Orpington, Kent. THE mess over the public sector pay cap was created by David Cameron and George Osborne, but it’s Theresa May who is getting the stick. ROD WILLIAMS, Great Holland, Essex.