900,000 public sector workers are set for a pay rise - here's who will benefit

Tuesday, 21st July 2020, 12:51 pm
Updated Tuesday, 21st July 2020, 12:52 pm
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a pay rise for public sector employees (Getty Images)

Public sector workers on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic have been given a pay rise.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the above inflation pay rise with doctors, teachers and police officers among those who will see extra money in their pay packet after a testing few months since Covid-19 hit the UK.

Over 300 NHS workers have died during the pandemic as they continued to deliver vital care to patients while teachers continued to provide children with education from home during the lockdown period.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: "These past months have underlined what we always knew, that our public sector workers make a vital contribution to our country and that we can rely on them when we need them.

"It's right therefore that we follow the recommendations of the independent pay bodies with this set of real-terms pay rises."

Who will benefit from the pay rise?


Almost 900,000 public sector workers will benefit from the pay rise with teachers in England and doctors and dentists across the UK set for 3.1% and 2.8% rises respectively.

Police, prison officers and National Crime Agency staff will be given a 2.5% rise in pay as a result and members of the armed forces will receive a 2% uplift.

Meanwhile, members of the judiciary and senior civil servants will also see their pay topped up by 2%.

The pay awards for the armed forces, prison officers, senior civil servants and NHS staff will be backdated to April, whereas the pay rise for police and teachers starts in September due to those professions operating on a different pay schedule running from September to August.

Calls have been made for social care workers to be included in the pay rise.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "These rises are welcome, but there's still a long way to go to restore pay after a decade of real terms cuts."

"Many public sector workers, like job centre staff and local government workers, aren't getting these rises. They deserve a decent pay settlement too.

"And the Government should urgently announce a pay rise for social care workers, who put their lives on the line to care for others during this pandemic."