Public Servant Lifestyle

2002 should bring substantial wage increases for public sector workers, says a new report.

Pay in the public sector - already rising by almost double the rate of the private sector - is set to continue to increase even more, predicts highly-respected research firm Income Data Services (IDS).

"Average earnings growth in the public sector pulled ahead of the private sector last Spring, and we are likely to see continued strong growth through 2002," says IDS.

Latest government figures (to December 2001) showed the three-month average earnings growth was 5.2% in the public sector, but only 2.9% in the private sector.

Pay Developments

The IDS report maps pay developments in the public services in 2001, and the prospects for 2002. It combines analysis of overall trends with details of grading structures, and pay/salary levels, for dozens of different bargaining groups in local authorities, the NHS, central government, education and the not-for-profit sector.

The report finds that pay increases for many public sector employees have been much higher than the headline percentage settlements, as a result of measures to aid recruitment and retention, or to boost the position of the low paid.

Its main conclusions include:

- "Pay settlements for many groups in the public sector (in 2001) centred on 3.7%, the level of increase recommended by most of the review bodies. There were higher increases in Scotland, as part of long-term deals.

- "Pay reviews in Civil Service departments and agencies averaged around 4½% in 2001. A significant minority of paybill increases were above 5%. In the not-for-profit sector, settlements were lower, averaging around 3¼%, with a significant number in the housing and care sectors below 3%.

- "Pay increases for many staff have frequently been much higher than the headline percentage settlement. Many deals have had underpinning increases, to help the lower paid, and others have raised the salaries of specific groups, to aid recruitment and retention.

- "Public sector employees in a range of occupations are set to receive substantial pay increases in 2002 as employers seek to address recruitment and retention issues, establish more competitive salary levels, and deal with discriminatory pay systems."

- "The research," says IDS, "also highlights the proliferation in long-term agreements, across the public sector, over the past 18 months. From being a rarity, previously they are now being encouraged by the Treasury as an aid to longer-term planning. Almost all of them involve substantial uplifts to pay, over their lifetime."

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