Nearly 900,000 frontline workers to get pay rise for their hard work during coronavirus crisis

Almost 900,000 public sector workers such as doctors, teachers and police officers are set to get an above-inflation pay rise. 

The news comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak ‘recognised their vital contribution’ throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Nurses, midwives, hospital porters and other NHS staff are not covered due to a three-year deal in 2018 which sees a total of 6.5% increase over the period. 

The existing departmental budgets will fund the salary increases of up to 3.1%. 

Labour has responded explaining that the rise would not make up for the years of real-term cuts and the seven-year freezing of public sector pay from Conservatives. The settlement will also not help care workers who are paid by struggling local authorities. 

Pay rises will be different across the UK also. 

• Teachers in England will see the largest increase of 3.1%
• Doctors and Dentists across the UK will see a 2.8% increase backdated to April
• Police officers, prison officers and National Crime Agency staff in England and Wales will be given a 2.5% increase
• Members of the armed forces will see a 2% increase backdated to April
• and finally, members of the judiciary and senior civil servants will see a 2% top-up on their wages backdated to April

Police and teachers operate a different pay year so increases will start in September.

Chancellor 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.”

Currently, more than 300 NHS workers have died in England alone after contracting coronavirus while working throughout the pandemic. 

Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds said although the pay rise is ‘good news’, ‘it won’t make up for a decade of real-term pay cuts’ for many front-line workers. 

“Many other public sector workers – including those working on the front line in social care – won’t get a pay rise out of this at all because the Tories haven’t made good on their promises to boost local authority funding,” Dodds explains.

“That’s not fair – and it’s no way to reward those who’ve been at the forefront of fighting this pandemic.”

The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, added: “Many public sector workers, like jobcentre staff and local government workers, aren’t getting these rises. They deserve a decent pay settlement too.

“And the government should urgently announce a pay rise for social care workers, who put their lives on the line to care for others during this pandemic.”

The government borrowed a record-breaking amount in the first quarter of the financial year due to a soar in spending at the height of the coronavirus, amounting to £127.9bn. In 2019-20 borrowing was £55.4bn making the borrowing to fund emergency support measures of the lockdown more than double the whole of the last fiscal year.  

June’s pubic sector net borrowing had risen five-fold year-on-year, amounting to £28.3bn more than the previous year and making it the third highest for any single month on record. 

Most economists confirm that borrowing was less than expected and less than the downward revised £45.5bn recorded for May.