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Ministers give up 2008 pay rises | Ministers give up 2008 pay rises |
(20 minutes later) | |
All government ministers will give up their pay rise for this financial year, Downing Street has announced. | |
The prime minister's decision was approved at this morning's Cabinet meeting, his spokesman said. | |
Gordon Brown said ministers would not accept a pay rise "given the importance of public sector pay restraint at a time of economic uncertainty". | |
The government is to back proposals from Sir John Baker's review that MPs no longer vote on their own pay rises. | |
But it rejected a £650-a-year "catch-up" payment for MPs, on top of their annual pay rises, saying: "MPs should set the example at a time of public sector pay restraint." | |
Ministerial salaries | |
Ministers will back proposals that MPs no longer vote on their own pay rises, instead they should accept the recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body. | |
They also plan to recommend that MPs' pay increases should be linked to the median average of rises paid to a wide range of public sector workers. | They also plan to recommend that MPs' pay increases should be linked to the median average of rises paid to a wide range of public sector workers. |
It is all very well ministers giving up their pay increase, but this is small comfort to millions of public sector workers who are faced with an effective three-year pay cut Unison spokeswoman | |
Mr Brown also accepted recommendations from the Senior Salaries Review Body for pay rises next year of 1.5% for senior civil servants, 2.2% for senior military officers and very senior NHS managers, and just over 2.5% for judges. | |
Ministers' pay should go up in line with that of senior civil servants, who will get a 7% increase over next three years - and were due to get a 1.5% rise in the next year. | Ministers' pay should go up in line with that of senior civil servants, who will get a 7% increase over next three years - and were due to get a 1.5% rise in the next year. |
But the pay restraint applies only to their ministerial salaries, they will still receive the general MPs' pay rise. | |
MPs will vote on their salaries on 3 July. | |
The government's decision over the part year to award in two stages the 2.5% pay rise recommended for public sector workers - meaning they were effectively getting 1.9% - prompted anger from the unions. | |
A spokeswoman for Unison said: "It is all very well ministers giving up their pay increase, but this is small comfort to millions of public sector workers who are faced with an effective three-year pay cut." | |
"Those earning an average wage of £13,000 will wonder why a high court judge can be offered a pay increase of over £3,000, when they have to make do with a few hundred pounds." | |
The union is balloting its local government members on whether they want to strike over a 2.45% pay offer. |