The wages of public sector workers including teachers, police officers and civil servants are to rise after Rishi Sunak announced that a pay freeze imposed last year would end in April 2022. The freeze affected almost half of public-sector workers, with exemptions for NHS workers and those earning less than £24,000. It will be some time before workers find out what their rise will be, and whether it will be enough to keep up with inflation which stands at 3.1% and could go above 4% by December, according to the Bank of England. Any pay increases will have to be funded from Whitehall departments’ own budgets, because the chancellor has not earmarked any new money to fund the rise. There is some headroom, however, after he announced departmental spending would grow in real terms by 3.8% a year during the rest of this parliament. The business minister, Paul Scully, said rises would depend on the advice of the pay review bodies, but did not rule out their being lower than inflation. Four public-sector workers speak about the effect of the pay freeze and their expectations now it is to be lifted. The civil servant, London ‘Departments cannot retain staff’ “The pay freeze being lifted is better than it staying in place, but without a guarantee of a substantive funded pay rise above inflation, it is essentially meaningless. The civil service has had a decade now of below inflation pay rises so you essentially get punished for gaining more experience and staying in a job longer. For a decade now, the longer you stay in a role, the less you get paid in real terms. “Although the government and civil service has spoken publicly about the high turnover rates, they penalise anyone staying in the same role. There’s no wonder there’s a retention problem and civil servants move jobs so often. If you don’t move jobs, you get poorer every year. It’s led to situations where someone has been in a role only two years but they are now the most experienced person in their team of 20 as the turnover rate is so high. “This means despite many brilliant people in the civil service, few people have deep level expertise because there’s no incentive to specialise as your pay will fall unless you move roles or department.” The teacher, east Midlands ‘The pay freeze was a huge blow for key workers’ “The announcement is a PR stunt. It’s all well and good to say that the pay freeze is being lifted but that doesn’t mean pay will actually increase in a meaningful way. My salary has been decreasing in real terms for years. If the recommendation for an increase is a 1% or 2% pay rise while inflation is 3.1% then I’m still out of pocket. “We’re living during a time of high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis. I can feel the pinch at the supermarket and in petrol prices. This is an announcement which sounds good, but in the end just means more strife for teachers and students. “The pay freeze was a huge blow for key workers, though it wasn’t surprising as the government has been picking on us for a long time. We’re part of a group of key workers who are essential to society. We’re carrying an unfair burden for little remuneration while MPs’ pay goes up. The government saying it will end the pay freeze doesn’t amount to action as it doesn’t guarantee it will be above inflation.” The police officer, Greater Manchester ‘Low pay is an issue in recruitment’ “Lifting the pay freeze in itself is meaningless. A small pay rise will likely be swallowed up by soaring inflation. If there has been sufficient budget to raise the MPs’ salaries above inflation over the past decade I would like to see the salaries of other public-sector workers similarly prioritised and made back up to the equivalent of what they were in 2010. “Inflation is through the roof, so the announcement is meaningless on its own. Ultimately, I don’t mind my pay being frozen if we could see the benefits, but what we’re seeing is libraries closing, the NHS on its knees. The police pay board has consistently called for increases, but has been ignored. I didn’t join the force for the money, but police want fairness. “Low pay is an issue in recruitment too. If you want 20,000 more police officers and you want good candidates you need good pay, especially when supermarkets are offering £10 an hour. Historically, police pay would compensate for the stress of the job, but when you compare a slight pay cut for significantly less stress I can see why some would leave the public sector. People stood up and clapped for key workers in the pandemic but in actual terms we got very little. We’ve been forgotten about.” The local authority planning officer, South Yorkshire ‘We’re used to not being remembered’ “I don’t think the public sector pay freeze ending will benefit us because I don’t expect the chancellor to give local authorities any money for pay rises. My salary is funded by the local authority so I don’t think it involves central government. It seems like the change is being presented as a significant increase in money given to the [Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities], but that isn’t going to make its way down to us as the pay is mainly to replace the money we would have received from Europe to help with ‘levelling up’. “Many northern authorities like mine have already lost a substantial amount of money during austerity. Planning departments that were running with no spare capacity have had to deal with significant uplift in the number of planning applications or consultations this year. “When we talk about the public sector there’s always mention of doctors and nurses, but rarely people like bin men and social workers. Those like myself are used to not being remembered, so I suspected I would be frustrated if it wasn’t normal.”