Liz Truss hints at flexibility on public sector pay
2 min read
Some public sector workers may see wage increases in excess of the 1% pay cap, the government has indicated.
Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has written to public sector pay review boards to say that: "more flexibility may be required to deliver world class public services".
She wrote: "The Government recognises that in some parts of the public sector, particularly in areas of skill shortage, more flexibility may be required... including in return for improvements to public sector productivity."
Letters were sent to the chief secretaries of pay review bodies for doctors and dentists, teachers, police, the NHS, the prison service, and for senior salaries.
But the move was criticised as “cynical” by Rehana Azam, the GMB union’s national secretary for public services.
“Publishing these letters on the eve of Conservative party conference are intended to give Theresa May a soundbite to appease her own mutinous backbenchers,” Azam said.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said that without additional funding next year the higher pay rise was meaningless: “All pay rises must be fully funded into school budgets otherwise they will be meaningless in practice.”
In an interview with the Sun, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said an above-the-cap wage rise should be delivered by cutting the number of public servants.
He said: “You can pay people more, but shrink your wages bill. “I’ll be honest with you. I do think you can always find ways of reducing expenditure on things that are not necessary. “Any minister who tells you you can’t find savings, it is not true.”
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