Below inflation pay awards for many public sector workers
Thousands of public sector employees covered by review bodies are to receive pay rises below the current all-items inflation rate of 3.2%.
The Government has agreed to implement in full a number of the awards recommended by the pay review bodies for April 2005, the majority of which are worth between 2.5% and 3%.
The pay awards reflect the Government's desire to control costs in light of ongoing pay restructuring in the NHS, central government and teaching, and with a general election expected in May.
As the table below indicates, groups receiving the lowest increases of 2.5% include prison officers and senior military personnel. At the opposite end of the spectrum, senior operational managers in prisons are to receive an increase worth 6%. Elsewhere, the awards for senior civil servants range from nil to 9%, with an average of 4.2%.
Proposals detailed in the School Teachers' Review Body report are subject to a consultation process ending in March 2005. The report's recommendations include new teaching and learning responsibility payments and an 'excellent teacher scheme'. Payments under the latter scheme could be worth up to 7.3% of teachers' salaries, subject to what the report describes as 'an arduous process of accreditation'.
The awards have already generated some controversy, with
the British Medical Association arguing that the small pay rises for NHS
doctors could adversely affect recruitment and
retention.
|
Group |
Increase
|
Previous
increase |
|
Ministers and MPs |
2.8% increase. |
2% increase. |
|
Senior civil service |
Individual awards ranging from nil to 9%, with an average of 4.2%. Performance bonuses increased. |
Pay bands and targets increase by 2%, with individual awards ranging from nil to 9%. |
|
Judiciary |
3% increase. |
2.5% increase. |
|
Doctors and dentists |
Increases ranging from 3% to 3.225%. |
Increases ranging from 2.7% to 3.225% |
|
Armed forces |
Basic increase of 3%. Daily rate for separation allowances raised by 5%. |
Basic increase of 2.8% and 3.2% for privates and lance corporals. |
|
Senior military |
2.5% increase for all senior military officers, except 3% for lowest point on the 2 star scale. |
2.8% increase for all ranks. |
| Nurses and other health professions | 3.225% increase in third stage of three-year pay deal. | 3.225% increase in second stage of three-year pay deal. |
|
Prison officers |
2.5% increase, with 3% for senior officials, and 6% for senior operational managers. |
2.4% increase for prison officers and 1.5% basic salary rise for operational managers. |
Review bodies Read the 2005 reports from each of the public sector review bodies (including the recommendations of the School Teachers' Review Body), as published on the Office of Manpower Economics website.
Armed Forces receive pay rise Read the official press release on the armed forces' increase, as published on the website of the Government News Network.
Also
Public sector pay in 2004/05 Writing in IRS Employment Review, Sarah Welfare reports on the public sector reward climate, including local government workers, education professionals, firefighters, civil servants and the NHS.
Inflation XpertHR's indicators service provides up-to-date figures on the rate of inflation.
Varying rates could undermine NHS pay harmonisation Proposals to vary nurses' overtime rates threaten to undermine a central tenet of the NHS Agenda for Change programme to deliver pay harmonisation to some 1.2 million staff, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
Second-stage pay rise at NHS Adam Geldman summarises the awards comprising the second stage of the three-year pay deal for nurses and other health professions, effective from 1 April 2004 and covering some 1.3 million employees. From IRS Employment Review.
'Disappointing' public sector pay awards fuel unrest IRS presents an in-depth analysis of the April 2004 public sector review body awards.
