22nd May 2025 14:09
(Alliance News) - Teachers and doctors will get above-inflation pay rises over the next year, ministers have announced after the latest review of public sector pay.
Both professions in England will receive a 4% increase, according to statements released by ministers on Thursday afternoon, while other NHS workers will get 3.6%.
The increases, which were recommended by independent pay review bodies, are above the rate of inflation, which jumped to 3.5% in April, up from 2.6% in March and the highest since January 2024.
Reports recently suggested ministers had only budgeted for a 2.8% rise for NHS and teaching staff, with suggestions that any further cash would have to come from squeezes in departmental spending.
Doctors are already threatening strike action following the announcement of the 4% pay rise, with Professor Philip Banfield, chair of council at the British Medical Association, BMA, claiming that the rise does not go far enough in restoring historical pay.
"Doctors' pay is still around a quarter less than it was in real terms 16 years ago and today's 'award' delays pay restoration even more, without a Government plan or reassurance to correct this erosion of what a doctor is worth," he said.
Other NHS workers in England, including nurses, midwives and physiotherapists among other frontline workers, will receive a 3.6% pay uplift, effective from April 1, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said.
NHS staff who are members of the GMB union are being balloted about whether the pay increase is acceptable, according to the union.
The increase for teachers will also be awarded to school leaders, according to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
An additional GBP615 million of funding will be provided to schools this financial year to help them with the costs of pay awards for staff, she added, roughly equivalent to 3% of the pay rise.
Schools will be required to fund the other 1% of the pay rise through "improved productivity and smarter spending", according to the Education Secretary.
Elsewhere, most members of the armed forces will be given a 4.5% pay rise, according to Defence Secretary John Healey, while senior members of the military will receive a 3.75% rise.
Senior civil servants will get a 3.25% pay rise, according to the Cabinet Office, but ministers plan to defer rolling out new pay bands as part of a review of salaries in the upper echelons of the Civil Service.
By David Lynch, Ella Pickover, Eleanor Busby, Richard Wheeler and Claudia Savage
Press Association: News
source: PA
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