The Liberal Democrats would end public sector pay cuts if they were returned to government, guaranteeing that salaries rise by at least inflation, Nick Clegg has announced.
Public sector workers deserve to see the “light at the end of the tunnel” after five years of pay restraints, the deputy prime minister said, adding that they should feel the benefits of the economic recovery.
Under Lib Dem plans, pay would be guaranteed to rise by at least inflation until the party has balanced the current deficit by 2017-18. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts inflation to be 0.2% for rest 2015, 1.2% in 2016 and 1.7% in 2017.
After the deficit target date, the party’s rate of investment in public services would be in line with economic growth and they would aim to deliver real-term increases to public sector pay.
The Lib Dems say this would translate as a minimum pay rise of £350 for a nurse on £25,000, £420 for a police officer on £30,000 and nearly £500 for a teacher on £35,000 over the next two years.
“Despite being asked to make do with less, workers in the public sector have maintained the highest standards and show great professionalism,” said Clegg, speaking at the National Liberal Club in London on Wednesday morning.
“First and foremost, I want to say thank you,” he added. “Workers across he public sector have made enough sacrifices. You have done your bit to help get the country back on track.”
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, was critical of the announcement. He said: “The Lib Dems have spent five years with the Tories cutting the pay, pensions and jobs of public servants, so this Damascene conversion on the eve of electoral humiliation will be seen for what it is.”
Clegg said public sector pay restraint had raised more than £12bn towards paying off the deficit in this parliament. “We are tantalisingly close [to balancing the books],” he added.
His party says it will clear the country’s £27bn budget deficit by 2017-18 by finding £12bn in savings in departmental budgets and £3bn in the welfare budget, raising £5bn through tax increases and £7bn through a crackdown on tax avoidance.
Party aides said the promise to stop further public sector pay cuts would cost the Treasury £2.7bn over two years, raising questions about where else savings would be made in government.
The party’s policy would kick in during the next financial year as public sector pay has already been set for this year.
In 2014, the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, claimed that up to 15,000 nurses would have to be laid off if the government was to accept demands for a pay rise from NHS workers staging the first health service strike over pay for 32 years. NHS staff claimed their pay had been cut by 15% in real terms over the course of the parliament.
