WIREDGOV

Following reports by the BBC yesterday (Sunday) that the government will lift its public sector pay cap to offer a pay rise to prison and police officers, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“The ice is beginning to crack. The government have clearly lost the argument on public sector pay.

“Police and prison officers are long overdue a pay rise, but so too are the nurses, firefighters and all public servants working across the country.

“This is not a popularity contest. Ministers must not cherry-pick some workers for a pay rise, while leaving others in the cold. Public sector workers’ pay has fallen for seven long years. They have all earned a pay rise.

“We need to hear more about how this will be funded. The costs for this pay rise must not fall upon our already-stretched public services.”

Notes to editors:

TUC research earlier this year showed how much public sector wages would be down in real terms if the pay cap continued until 2020.

More info: www.tuc.org.uk/news/nurses-teachers-and-firefighters-facing-falls-thousands-real-pay-end-decade

BBC story on the pay cap being lifted: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41218283