UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed reports her will lift a public sector pay freeze when he presents his budget on Wednesday.
In the 17th pre-Budget announcement, the Treasury said the size of the pay rise would be dependent on recommendations from pay review bodies that set wages for frontline workers such as nurses and teachers.
It also confirmed an uplift in the national minimum wage for people aged 23 and above to £9.50 an hour from £8.91.
Sunak , who has been severely criticised by House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle for leaking Budgetary measures ahead of his speech to parliament tomorrow, is expected to tighten spending in “non-essential” government departments as he looks to cut debt in response to record borrowing during the pandemic.
Measures already announced in advance of the budget include funding for the cash-strapped National Health Service, education and regional transport.
The public sector pay freeze was part of the government’s response to the pandemic, with only the lowest-paid excluded.
Sunak last November said he could not justify an across-the-board increase when many in the private sector had seen their pay and hours cut in the crisis.
In an announcement late on Monday, the Sunak said “the solid economic recovery and encouraging signs in the labour market” mean the “pay pause” can be lifted, claiming that economic recovery meant “it’s right that nurses, teachers and all the other public sector workers who played their part during the pandemic see their wages rise”.
However, critics argue that the wage will be eaten up by rising inflation, record petrol and energy costs and a tax rise Sunak will impose next April to pay for social care measures.
