UK public sector workers to get 5% pay rise

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will offer millions of public sector workers an average 5% pay rise next week, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing unnamed ministers.

Annual pay reviews are due shortly for almost half of public sector workers, including teachers, nurses, police, prison staff, civil servants and the armed forces. According to the FT, one senior minister said the government would accept the recommendations of independent pay review bodies - which are likely to recommend a pay rise of around 5% - while another minister said a direct pay rise of around 5% was expected. A spokesperson from Johnson's office declined to comment on the report. UK consumer price inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1% in May and the Bank of England forecasts inflation will exceed 11% in October. Meanwhile, wage growth in the public sector has lagged behind that of private sector workers, averaging just 1.5% over the past year, compared to 8.0% in the private sector, boosted by one-off bonuses. The British government had planned a public sector pay rise of around 2%, but the FT quoted a senior minister as saying that rejecting the recommendations of pay review bodies would lead to more strikes. "If you fall below their recommendations, you save some money, but what is the net saving?" the unnamed cabinet minister was quoted as saying. "You will face a lot of strikes and a big economic hit. There will be strikes anyway, but that would make things much worse." The FT said a 5% rise would cost about 7 billion pounds ($8.3 billion) more than a 2% rise, but may have to be funded from existing budgets.