Teachers And NHS Staff To Get Above Inflation Pay Rise

The Government has agreed a pay rise worth 5.5 per cent for teachers and some NHS staff, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed.

Speaking to MPs on Monday afternoon, Reeves confimed that she had accepted the recommendation from the independent pay bodies for teachers and NHS staff that millions of public sector workers should get an above-inflation pay rise.

The decision will mean "giving hardworking staff the pay rise they deserve", she said.

The pay increase is expected to cost ministers several billion pounds, putting pressure on the Labour Government's commitment to sticking to strict fiscal rules.

Reeves has suggested that not accepting the recommendation, which in turn would likely prompt further industrial action in the public sector, would end up costing the Government more in the long run.

"We also know that there is a cost to not settling," she told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg at the weekend.

"A cost of further industrial action, a cost in terms of the challenge that we face in recruiting retaining doctors and nurses and teachers as well.

"But we’ll do it in a proper way. Make sure that the sums add up.”

Reeves also confirmed that the Government had "agreed on an offer for the junior doctors", potentially bringing their months of industrial action over pay to an end.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, will set out the details in due course, the Chancellor told the House of Commons.

According to The Times, the offer is a pay a pay rise worth 22 per cent over the course of two years. 

The British Medical Association will put the offer to a vote of its members.

Speaking on Monday morning, Prime Minister Starmer's official spokesperson refused to give a "detail running commentary" on the negotiations with junior