Pay awards for over a million public sector workers
Setting out pay awards for over a million public sector workers including the NHS and the Armed Forces
The government has today (8 March 2016) set out the pay awards for over a million public sector workers in line with the policy of an average one percent pay rise in 2016-17.
The government asked the following Pay Review Bodies to examine how an increase to base pay could be applied in line with the government’s policy of an average of 1% across the workforces:
- Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB)
- Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB)
- NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB)
- Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB)
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Greg Hands, said:
Our armed forces, NHS workers and prison officers do a brilliant job serving our country but with an increasingly turbulent global economy, pay restraint continues to be a key part of our plan to finish fixing the public finances.
The independent OBR estimates that 200,000 public sector jobs have been protected thanks to our average 1% pay policy so we can continue to deliver crucial public services.
The independent pay review bodies have worked hard to bring forward a balanced and affordable set of recommendations that delivers on our commitments to increase pay by an average of 1% across the workforces. The government is grateful for their work and I am pleased that we are able to accept their recommendations.
The government has accepted in full the recommendations for the following workforces who will receive an average of a 1% pay increase:
- Armed Forces
- NHS staff
- doctors and dentists
The government has also accepted in full the recommendations for the prison service who will receive a slightly above 1% average pay increase - at 1.36%. This is an exceptional award for the particular circumstances this year of introducing highly ambitious prison reform.
The public sector pay bill makes up over half of departmental resource spending, so continued pay restraint remains central to the government’s deficit reduction strategy.
The remainder of the pay review body reports will be delivered over the course of this pay round and the government will respond in due course.