The government will give recommendations for public sector pay rises “very careful consideration”, a minister has said – but he urged trade unions to “recognise the reality of the financial position”.
Stephen Kinnock said the government had now received the recommendations of the independent review body that advises ministers on public sector pay.
According to The Times, teachers and NHS workers in England have been told to expect a pay rise of close to 4% and 3%, respectively.
The figures are higher than the 2.8% the government has offered – meaning it must now decide whether to increase its offer in line with the pay review bodies, as it did last year.
Speaking to Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast, Mr Kinnock, the care minister, urged trade unions to “engage constructively with us”.
“We’ve received the recommendation of the pay review body and we will give that very careful consideration,” he said.
He said the government was “all about putting more money into the pockets of working people”, citing how the junior doctors’ strike was resolved when they accepted a government pay offer worth an extra 22.3% on average over two years.
But he added: “We also have to ensure that we are balancing the books, and we’ve got to work – in terms of public sector pay – within fiscal constraints.
“So of course we will give these recommendations careful consideration, but I would, of course, also urge our colleagues in the trade union movement to engage constructively with us and recognise the reality of the financial position.”
The decision of the independent pay review bodies to recommend pay rises higher than the government offer presents a headache for Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is already grappling with the impact of Donald Trump’s punitive tariff regime.
Ms Reeves will need to balance her promise to keep spending within certain fiscal constraints with the government’s long-term ambition to improve public services – seen as crucial to Labour’s electoral success.
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Unions have already signalled they are prepared to go on strike again if the government does not increase its offer of 2.8%.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said the figure amounted to “as little as £2 extra a day” – while the British Medical Association (BMA) accused Labour of failing to grasp unresolved issues from two years of strikes under the Tories.
Last week, Sky News reported the National Education Union, the largest teaching union in the UK, drew up plans for strike action while it waited to learn the outcome of the School Teachers’ Review Body report into pay.
The NEU, led by general secretary Daniel Kebede, has rejected the government’s 2.8% pay offer as “unacceptable” and “unfunded”.
Instead, the union is calling for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise – although it has not put a figure on the proposal it would like to receive.
