Nearly 900,000 public sector workers, including teachers, doctors and police officers are set for above inflation pay rises this year, announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak today (July 21).
The pay rise also includes Armed Forces, prison officers and senior civil servants and aims to reflect the vital contribution public sector workers make to our country.
Teachers will see the highest pay rise with 3.1%, followed by doctors, whose pay will rise by 2.8%, in recognition of the frontline work by these groups during the Covid-19 crisis.
Police and prison officers will both see a 2.5% rise, as 6,435 new police officers settle into their roles since being recruited between Nov 2019 and March 2020.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:
“These past months have underlined what we always knew – that our public sector workers make a vital contribution to our country and that we can rely on them when we need them.
“It’s right therefore that we follow the recommendations of the independent pay bodies with this set of real-terms pay rises.”
It comes after the NHS settlement for more than one million NHS workers, who are benefitting from the three-year Agenda for Change pay deal, which will see nurses moving up their pay structure get an average of 4.4% rise this year.
When a pay rise is announced after the start of the financial year, the award will be backdated. Police and teachers start their pay year in September, whereas the armed forces, prison officers, senior civil servants and NHS staff start their year in April, so their awards will be backdated accordingly.
Each award has come after recommendations by independent pay review bodies, which this year, saw the Government accept the headline recommended rise for each workforce.
