Public sector pay has slumped in real terms, warns TUC

Trade body umbrella organisation the TUC has claimed that millions of public sector workers have lost thousands of pounds of pay a year in real terms.

According to its own calculations, once inflation is taken into account "midwives and firefighters have seen a real terms annual pay cut of more than £3,000 on average," says the BBC.

Nurses' and ambulance drivers' salaries have dropped by more than £2,000, while police officers' pay is down £1,300.

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Nearly a million public service workers will be on duty on Christmas Day, the TUC added, as it called for the government to "show some seasonal goodwill and end the real-terms pay cuts".

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "The government's Scrooge-like public sector pay cap has to go, to ensure that wages at least keep up with prices."

Since 2010 and until the end of this parliament, public sector pay rises have been capped at one per cent.

That was below the level of inflation for several years meaning workers wages were being squeezed, but that has changed since 2014 when inflation fell towards zero.

Next year, amid a slump in the pound prompted by the Brexit vote that will bump up export prices, inflation is expected to surge towards three per cent again, eroding public sector pay.

A spokesperson for the Treasury said: "The government has made difficult decisions on public sector pay to maintain fiscal discipline and protect public sector jobs."