Public sector workers facing pay restraint as ministers warn of ‘inflationary spiral’

Ministers can overrule recommendations of independent pay bodies for teachers, police and NHS

(PA) (PA Archive)

Public sector workers look set for below-inflation pay rises after Boris Johnson warned a meeting of cabinet that generous settlements could trigger an inflationary spiral.

“Limited” pay restraint was likely to be less damaging to the real value of take-home pay and less likely to drive up household costs such as mortgages, ministers told the meeting.

But the leader of the Unite union, Sharon Graham, told The Independent that a below-inflation rise would effectively amount to a “national pay cut”.