Public sector pay cap 'to be scrapped' with millions of workers expecting salary increases

The public sector pay cap is set to end with more than one million workers expected to receive a salary increase, it has been reported.

Pay rises of between one a four per cent to teachers, doctors and those in the armed forces are to be announced on the last day of the parliamentary term, according to the Times.

The Government’s pay restraint policy has seen a two-year freeze after the Conservative-led coalition came to power in 2010, followed by a one per cent annual limit from 2013.

Some teachers will receive a pay increase of 3.5 per cent, prison service workers 2.75 per cent and armed forces two per cent, all of which will be backdated to the start of the financial year in April, the same newspaper reported.

Separately, more than one million health workers are to receive a pay rise worth 6.5 per cent for most staff over the next three years, after a deal was struck in June.

Members of 13 unions representing hospital cleaners, nurses, security guards, physiotherapists, emergency call handlers, paramedics, midwives, radiographers and other NHS staff across England voted to accept the deal.

The GMB is the only union involved in the NHS which has rejected the offer.

The proposed pay increases will be funded from departmental savings, rather than the Treasury offering new funds, The Sun reported.

It comes after members of the biggest civil service union backed strikes over pay but failed to meet a legal threshold on industrial action ballots.

The Public and Commercial Services union said on Monday 85 per cent of those voting supported strikes in protest at the Government's policy on pay.

It was the biggest yes vote in the union's history, but the turnout was 41 per cent - below the 50 per cent threshold.

In May, Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood said Britain's armed forces needed a pay rise in order to protect recruitment.

The Times reported the independent body that advises the Government on pay for members of the Army, Navy and RAF has provided its recommendations for the 2018-2019 pay round and suggested an increase of about 3 per cent.