Teachers and NHS staff could get 5.5% pay boost

Public sector workers could be in line for above-inflation pay rises of 5.5% if the government follows reported recommendations from independent pay review bodies.

In an interview with BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg this weekend, chancellor Rachel Reeves hinted that the new government will follow the recommendations of the sector bodies, which set pay for 514,000 teachers and 1.36 million NHS workers.

While the pay review bodies have yet to publish their recommendations, The Times reported at the weekend that those representing teachers and NHS workers have put forward a figure of 5.5%, more than double the rate of inflation.

This is considerably more than the 3% the previous government had budgeted for and could cost as much as £3bn, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

IFS director Paul Johnson said that covering the increase would require the government to either increase borrowing or taxes, or cut spending elsewhere.

However, he added that the 5.5% rise would be roughly in line with pay rises elsewhere in the economy.

Reeves told the BBC: “There is a cost to not settling, a cost of further industrial action, and a cost in terms of the challenge we face recruiting.” Both sectors have been plagued by strikes.

She added: “We will do it in a proper way and make sure the sums add up.”

Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, told the BBC’s Today programme that the recommended figure would be a “step in the right direction”.

He added: “We are in the midst of a deep recruitment and retention crisis at the moment, and we do need an inflation plus pay award this year to take steps to correct that crisis.”

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has already pledged to recruit 6,500 new teachers to address the shortage, funded in part by a removal of a 20% VAT exemption on private schools.

Formal decisions on pay rises for NHS staff, teachers, police and prison officers in England have to be taken by the end of July, when the public sector pay review process closes.

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