Low-earning public sector staff set for £250 pay rise

Prison officers, NHS staff and armed forces employees earning up to £21,000 a year are to receive a £250 pay rise following a government review of public sector pay for 2012-13 by the pay review bodies.

Employees earning more than £21,000 a year will have their pay frozen as part of plans to save £3.3 billion a year by 2014-15. The two-year pay freeze was announced in the 2010 Budget.

Pay review bodies for judges, the senior civil service, the senior military, and senior managers, doctors and dentists in the NHS did not make recommendations, because their workforces earn above £21,000 and are subject to the pay freeze.

The announcement does not cover police and local government workforces, which are not covered by pay review bodies.