2.8% increase in Army pay bucks public sector squeeze

THE Armed Forces were today exempted from a crushing public sector pay squeeze in recognition of their sacrifices in Afghanistan.

Gordon Brown sanctioned a 2.8 per cent rise for soldiers sailors and airmen from tomorrow, meeting in full the recommendation of a review body.

But he imposed a 1.5 per cent salary limit on judges, senior civil servants and NHS managers, tearing up reports from independent pay bodies that had proposed rises of up to 2.6 per cent.

The decisions were agreed by the Cabinet at its weekly meeting this morning. Decisions on pay for teachers, nurses and other public servants are still to come. The Prime Minister said: "It is important in the present economic climate that senior staff in the public sector show leadership in pay restraint."

But along with Defence Secretary John Hutton, he was keen to pay the full rise proposed for military officers and troops, because of the extra pressure on all the Forces from the strain of fighting in Afghanistan.

An Army private will receive basic pay of between £16,681 and £25,887 - with more for those on tour of duty.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of Defence Staff, said: "This pay rise is welcome and appropriate acknowledgement of the burden our people are carrying on behalf of the nation, and of their remarkable achievements."

In a separate squeeze on the public sector pay bill, Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell announced that he would launch a new effort to cut the ballooning costs of officials taking early retirement. Whitehall departments will be ordered to stop giving early retirement or compulsory redundancies to officials who could be redeployed elsewhere, saving money.

The intervention is an admission that the civil service has been over-willing to give generous severance terms.

Mr Brown said the new terms would save up to £500million over three years, and a target set to reduce the real terms cost of running Government by five per cent in each of the next three years.

The Senior Salaries Review Body had recommended senior civil servants get 2.1 per cent, judges 2.6 per cent and senior NHS managers 2.4 per cent.