UNITED KINGDOM
One million UK public sector workers are to receive their biggest pay rise in nearly 10 years.
This includes 2.9 per cent extra this year for the armed forces, 2.75 per cent for prison officers and up to 3.5 per cent for teachers.
Police will see a 2 per cent rise, with the same increase for doctors and dentists.
The move confirms the scrapping of the 1 per cent pay cap last year and follows campaigns by unions for higher wage rises.
The Government said the increases were affordable and within its spending plans.
This comes only days after Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee was told pay levels at the Foreign Office were so low that staff were rejecting jobs there.
MPs were told the situation was so bad that in only 55 per cent of 554 filled postings requiring a foreign language did the occupant meet the expected level of language skill; a further 154 posts remained vacant.
This description runs counter to the optimistic vision set out by the former Minister in charge, Boris Johnson in his resignation statement to Parliament.
He said the Department was a flourishing, expanding institution ready to take on the role of champion of a “global Britain”.
Mr Johnson pointed to an expansion of the number of embassies under his stewardship.
The Foreign Office admitted in its evidence before the Select Committee that the pay crisis was affecting the performance of embassies.
“Cabinet Office data shows that the Foreign Office has the lowest median pay of any Government Department for policy officers and middle management officers,” the Department said in its submitted evidence.
“At policy officer level our base pay is 19 per cent lower than the leading Department, while the gap at middle management stands at 20 per cent.”
It said that more than 70 per cent of those leaving the Department cited poor pay as the main reason for doing so.
In a recent campaign to recruit policy officers, 33 of 159 successful candidates subsequently decided not to join, citing pay as a key factor.
London, 20 July 2018
