Campaign to end pay cap for public sector
THE GOVERNMENT is coming under mounting pressure to scrap the controversial one per cent cap on public sector pay amid the threat of strikes by nurses and civil servants.
The issue was raised at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned “warm words do not pay food bills”. He told the Prime Minister to “see sense” by scrapping the cap, amid speculation Theresa May is preparing to end the long-standing policy.
During the exchanges, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) announced it will ballot civil servants for strikes in protest over the cap. The union said civil service pay had fallen by between £2,000 and £3,500 in real terms from 2010 to 2016 because of the Government’s pay policy.
PCS officials said there was “escalating chaos” in the Government, and demanded the cap is scrapped and replaced with pay rises of at least five per cent for all public sector workers. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the Government fully understands that public sector workers have taken their “share of the pain” of deficit reduction and signalled that the Chancellor was looking at the issue.
Meanwhile, thousands of nurses gathered in London’s Parliament Square yesterday to protest over the cap on pay. The rally organised by the Royal College of Nursing was staged outside the House of Commons.