Thank you for contacting me about public sector pay. Almost 900,000 public sectors worker will receive above-inflation pay rises this year. This is good news and for many, this will be the third successive year of pay rises.
Specifically on the NHS, more than one million NHS workers, including nurses, are continuing to benefit from a separate scheme agreed in 2018 which has seen the pay of a newly qualified nurse increase by 12 per cent since 2017-18. In fact, those on the lowest wages will receive the largest increase, namely [please insert full stat]
In comparison, the recent announcement means that teachers will receive the largest pay increase with their salaries rising by 3.1 per cent on average. Police officers and prisons officers will see their pay rise by 2.5 per cent while Armed Forces personnel will see an increase of 2 per cent.
Ministers set aside £800 million to support the deal for 2018/19, and the Government’s long term funding settlement for the NHS, which will provide increased funding of £33.9 billion per year in by 2023/24, will fund the pay rise over the remaining two years. Those on the lowest salaries in the NHS will see some of the largest proportionate pay rises: the lowest NHS starting salary will increase year on year from £15,404 to £18,005 in 2020/2021. Many nurses and healthcare assistants will enjoy pay increases of at least 25 per cent.
We are also helping people with the cost of living, giving the largest ever cash boost to the National Living Wage in April, which gives nearly three million workers a pay rise. In April, the NLW increased to £8.72, meaning low-paid workers received a boost of 6.2 per cent. A full-time worker on NLW will receive an increase of £930 this year as a result, and we will increase the NLW to £10.50, on current forecasts, by 2024.