Rishi Sunak on Thursday accepted in full the recommendations of independent pay review bodies to give key public sector workers wage rises of about 6.5 per cent, telling trade unions to call off strikes now.
The prime minister agreed the awards for 2023-24 after talks with chancellor Jeremy Hunt, when he was reassured they could be funded without increased government borrowing that might have fuelled inflation.
“Today’s offer is final,” Sunak told a press conference in Downing Street. “There will be no more talks on pay. No amount of strikes will change this decision.”
Sunak received an immediate boost when four education unions backed the government’s proposed 6.5 per cent pay increase for teachers, saying they would recommend the deal to members and call off strikes.
Under the review bodies’ recommendations accepted by ministers, police officers will receive a 7 per cent pay increase in 2023-24, teachers 6.5 per cent, senior NHS staff 6 per cent, junior doctors 6 per cent plus a one-off payment, and armed forces 5 per cent plus a one-off payment.
More than 1mn NHS staff, including nurses and ambulance crews, have already been offered a 5 per cent wage increase by the government for 2023-24, along with a one-off payment for last year.
The prime minister was fully aware of the political risks of fuelling public sector workers’ anger over pay — potentially aggravating a wave of strikes — if he had rejected the review bodies’ recommendations.
In a joint statement with Sunak, the NEU, NASUWT, NAHT and ASCL teaching unions said they would recommend the government’s pay offer to members. “This deal will allow teachers and school leaders to call off strike action and resume normal relations with government,” they said.
He said the pay offers could be funded without hitting frontline services and urged all public sector workers — including striking junior doctors — to call off their strikes now.
In a direct challenge to the British Medical Association to call off strikes by junior doctors in England, Sunak said: “How can it be right to continue disruptive industrial action, not least because these strikes lead to tens of thousands of appointments being cancelled — every single day.”
The prime minister has been grappling with the biggest series of public sector strikes in the UK in decades — with NHS workers, teachers and civil servants all demanding higher pay amid the cost of living crisis.
Junior doctors who are members of the BMA began an unprecedented five day strike on Thursday. Teaching unions have been holding strike ballots that might result in widespread closures of schools in the autumn.
Sunak said that Whitehall departments will have to find efficiency savings and reprioritise spending to help cover the pay increases.
This reflects how the wage rises are above the 3.5 per cent originally proposed by the government.
But Sunak also announced a plan to raise an extra £1bn by increasing visa fees and a NHS surcharge for legal migrants coming to Britain.
Public sector pay could now start to keep up with rising prices. Consensus Economics, which averages leading forecasters, expects consumer price inflation to average 7.3 per cent in 2023 and 3.2 per cent in 2024.
Sunak wants to halve inflation to about 5 per cent by the end of this year. It currently stands at 8.7 per cent.