PM ‘must give soldiers a raise’ as pay cap ends
THERESA MAY has said she recognises the “sacrifices” that workers have made after seven years of austerity as the Government prepares to end the public sector pay cap.
The Government is later this month expected to announce the end of the 1 per cent cap on pay rises for public sector workers.
However, the cost of lifting the pay cap, which has been estimated at more than £4 billion, means that ministers are likely to stagger rises gradually over two years.
Ministers are expected to prioritise the lowest paid and professions with the biggest retention problems, such as nurses and senior leaders in the civil service. The former head of the Army said that the Prime Minister must prioritise pay rises for soldiers and other members of the Armed Forces.
The Daily Telegraph understands that Cabinet ministers have warned Mrs May that she must not “cherrypick” some professions over others.
The Armed Forces are facing a recruitment crisis as soldiers are leaving the services for the higher pay available in the private sector. One Government source said: “It would look pretty bad if mandarins got pay rises while soldiers putting their life on the line didn’t.”
Lord Dannatt, the former head of the Army, said: “We need to lift the pay cap in the Armed Forces. Two or three years ago they were heavily involved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but with the Armed Forces out of the public eye and the civil sector doing well, recruitment and retention is difficult.
“We’re not involved in that many operations at the moment. If we were asked to do an operation on the scale of Iraq or Afghanistan we would struggle as our capability is distinctly less than it was.”
A Downing Street spokesman yesterday said that the Prime Minister recognised “the sacrifices” that public sector workers had made.
Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, said: “In designing our public sector pay policy, we seek to be fair to the people who deliver our vitally important public services, to the people who pay for them and use them, and also we seek to protect jobs in the public sector and make sure that our funding of the public sector is affordable.”