Public sector 'paid 8% more than private'

Public sector workers are paid almost eight per cent more than private sector workers - and the gap is widening, according to official statistics.

The figures will be seen as undermining the case for maintaining "final salary" public sector pensions when the vast majority of private sector workers have lost theirs.

In 2007 at the start of the financial crisis the gap was 5.3 per cent, according to analysis by the Office for National Statistics. By last year it had reached 7.8 per cent.

The release of the statistics comes five days after hundreds of thousands of public sector workers walked out over government plans to make them pay more and wait longer for their pensions.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "Hourly pay has been higher in the public sector for over 30 years. This is because public sector workers tend to be more highly skilled doing jobs like teaching and health care."