NHS staff will get at least a 4.5% pay rise, teachers at least 5% and police officers will receive £1,900 after a public sector pay review – but unions said it was not enough.
All police ranks will get the same amount of extra pay from 1 September, with those on the lowest pay getting an uplift of up to 8.8% and those on the highest receiving between 0.6% and 1.8% increase in their annual salary.
The minimum starting salary for a police constable degree apprentice will be raised to £23,556 from 1 September.
Read more: Who decides public sector pay rises and how?
More than a million nurses, paramedics, midwives, porters and cleaners will get a pay rise of at least £1,400, with the lowest earners receiving up to a 9.3% increase backdated to April, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.
AdvertisementEligible dentists and doctors will receive a 4.5% pay rise while the average basic pay for nurses will increase from around £35,600 to £37,000 and newly qualified nurses will get a 5.5% increase to £27,055.
Teachers’ starting salaries outside London will rise by 8.9% to £28,000 while experienced teachers who have been in the profession for more than five years will get a 5% increase from September, the Department for Education said.
More on Education Related Topics: EducationNHSPoliceThe base pay for armed forces staff will increase by 3.75% while all senior military will get a 3.5% increase.
Eligible judges will get a 3% pay rise, the Department of Justice said.
The government said these are the highest public sector pay rises in nearly 20 years.
All of the pay rises were recommended by independent public sector pay review bodies, who take evidence and talk to those in the industry.
‘A kick in the teeth’
Their recommendations were all accepted in full by the different government departments, who said the increase recognises the contribution of key workers while balancing the need to protect taxpayers, manage public spending and not drive up inflation.
However, unions have said the increases are a “kick in the teeth” as they are a real terms pay cut due to high inflation, which is forecast to climb to 11.7% later this year.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The government promised rewards for the dedication of the public sector workforce during the pandemic. What they have delivered instead, in real terms, is a kick in the teeth. The so-called wage offer amounts to a massive national pay cut. We expected the inevitable betrayal but the scale of it is an affront.”
Unison said the government had “made a big mistake” and accused the government of having “scant regard for the millions of people languishing on waiting lists for tests and treatment”.
“Fed-up staff might well now decide to take the matter into their own hands,” Unison general secretary Christina McAnea warned.
“If there is to be a dispute in the NHS, ministers will have no one to blame but themselves.”
Image: NHS staff could go on strike, as they did over junior doctors’ contracts in 2016Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said they were pleased the pay rise for NHS staff was above the original 3% but said it still places NHS and public health leaders in the “impossible position of having to choose which services they will cut back on in order to fund the additional rise”.
The British Dental Association said the 4.5% pay rise for dentists is “derisory” as it warned the workforce crisis facing NHS dentistry will be accelerated by this.
Both the NASUWT and NEU teaching unions, which have threatened autumn strikes over pay, said the proposed increase of 5% for more experienced staff is too low and is “yet another huge cut” to the real value of pay against inflation”.
The Police Federation said pay rises were positive news for junior and new staff but were “disappointing” for more experienced officers who they could struggle to retain.