Further pay restrictions are a “bitter blow” to NHS staff, says BMA

The government has added to its already acrimonious dispute with public sector employees by announcing a cap of 1% on pay rises for the next two years.

On the back of the current pay freeze public sector workers can expect no more than an annual increase of 1% in their pay packets from 2013 to 2015. Announcing the new measures chancellor George Osborne also suggested that there could be an end to national bargaining in future.

Mr Osborne laid out plans to ask pay review bodies to look at how public sector pay could be made “more responsive to local labour markets” to ensure the private sector does not lose out.

The announcement in his autumn statement came as figures published by the Office for Budget Responsibility suggest that 710 000 public sector jobs …