Labour faces clash with unions over 2.8% public sector pay rise

The government is set for a clash with unions after ministers recommended a 2.8% pay rise for teachers, NHS staff and other public sector workers.

- Rowena Mason Denis Campbell Sally Weale

Government departments said they were budgeting for a 2.8% rise next year, but unions said that this would not help sufficiently with rises in the cost of living.

Pay review bodies will make the final recommendations but, in written evidence, the government said it believed it was enough to set aside 2.8%. The National Education Union (NEU) said it was "putting the government on notice" that 2.8% was not enough, while Unite, one of Labour's biggest donors, said the offer to NHS staff was "an insult".

The anger from unions comes after the government settled some long-running public sector pay disputes that had led to strikes under the previous Conservative governments.

In written evidence to the NHS pay review body, the Department of Health said the 2.8% for nurses, doctors and other NHS staff next year was viewed as "a reasonable amount to have set aside based on the macroeconomic data and forecasts and taking into account the fiscal and labour market context".

The RCN union denounced the 2.8% as a "deeply offensive" sum that offered nurses an increase in their pay worth "as little as £2 extra a day, less than the price of a cup of coffee".