Rishi Sunak suggests paying public sector employees around 6.5% more.

Thursday marked Rishi Sunak's full acceptance of the independent pay review committees' proposals to increase the salaries of crucial public sector employees by around 6.5%.

After speaking with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Sunak settled on the prizes for 2023–24 after being convinced that they could be paid without increasing government borrowing, which may have fueled inflation.

The compensation evaluations apply to top public officials, the military forces, doctors, dentists, and prison guards.

The government's decision was revealed by Treasury Minister John Glen in the House of Commons, who stated: "We said we would accept the recommendations of the public sector pay review body and that's exactly what we are doing."

Police and prison workers would have wage increases of 7%, teachers of 6.5%, senior NHS staff of 6%, junior physicians of 6% plus a one-time payment, and members of the armed services of 5% plus a one-time payment, according to Glen.

The government has already promised more than 1 million employees of the NHS, including nurses and ambulance drivers, a 5% pay rise for 2023–2024 in addition to a one-time payment for the previous year.

If the prime minister had disregarded the advice of the review panels, he would have run the political danger of inflaming the wage dispute among public sector employees, which might have sparked a wave of strikes.

However, in order to pay for the wage increases, which are more than the 3.5% the government had first suggested, ministers were informed they would have to make cuts, notably to capital expenditures.

Pay in the public sector may finally start keeping up with growing costs. Consensus forecasting firm Consensus Economics projects consumer price inflation to average 7.3% in 2023 and 3.2% in 2024.

By the end of this year, Sunak hopes to cut the inflation rate in half to 5.4%. The current percentage is 8.7%.

The worst wave of public sector strikes in decades has the prime minister on the defensive as teachers, civil servants, and employees of the NHS are all calling for more wages because of the rising cost of living.

(Sources: ft.com, skynews.co.uk)