Teachers and police 'suffer most under austerity'

Teachers, police and nurses are feeling the biggest impact of the Tories' controversial one per cent pay cap on public sector workers, according to a government report.

According to the Office of Manpower Economics (OME), an average teacher saw their pay fall by £3 an hour in real terms, while police officers experienced a drop of £2 an hour. The wages of nurses have stagnated.

Researchers from the OME, which provides independent research to official pay bodies, examined ten groups that have their wages set by pay review groups and found they had all seen wage decreases or stagnation.

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Adjusted for inflation, hourly earnings of UK public sector workers dropped six per cent between 2005 and 2015.

Downing Street has said it would consider potential wage increases on a "case-by-case" basis, after Conservative cabinet members expressed their concern over the pay cap.

While Chancellor Philip Hammond last night urged his party to "hold our nerve" on the issue, his Labour counterpart John McDonnell called for an increase in public sector pay.

"The fact that some of the pillars of our community and the public sector such as teachers, doctors and police officers are seeing their pay cut exposes the double standards of a government that likes to praise their work but will not actually truly reward it," he said.