The ‘cruel’ cap on public servants’ pay is set to cost the East of England economy £1.2 billion by 2020, GMB has revealed.
With public sector workers currently subjected to a one per cent pay cap – meaning that their earnings are kept below inflation – the East of England is in line to miss out on billions in lost wages, highlighting how self-defeating the policy is.
Between 2017 and 2020, each worker will be an average of £3,300 out of pocket. With more than 400,000 public sector workers in the East of England, that amounts to just over £1.22 billion less spent in the economy.
Over the full decade from 2010 to 2020, a full-time staff nurse will have lost out on over £18,000 in real terms.
A recent GMB report found that the Government’s public sector pay policy was even more prolonged and severe than those pursued by Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
Warren Kenny, GMB Regional Secretary, said: “These figures show the public sector pay squeeze is not only cruel and unnecessary – it’s completely self-defeating.
“Each and every public sector worker in the East of England – from paramedics and teaching assistants to cleaners and council officers – will be more than £3,000 out of pocket if this cap is allowed to continue.
“That’s money they need for food, bills and travel from them and their families.
“But it’s also pinching £1.2 billion from our economy, suppressing growth, and jobs.
“If Theresa May is serious about helping ordinary working families then she must give our army of public sector workers the long overdue fair wage they need and deserve.”
