West Country, Midlands and north England will be hit hardest if public sector pay is regionalised

The West Country, the Midlands and the north of England will be hit hardest by government plans to regionalise public sector pay, according to research by job search website Adzuna.

The research ranked UK regions by average salary and analysed specific job titles by location to see regional differences in pay by job sector.

In this month’s Budget, Chancellor George Osborne launched a review on whether to introduce differing regional public sector pay deals.

The research found that private sector workers in the West Country, the Midlands and the north of England are paid at least 15% less than the national average. If the pay policy suggested by the Chancellor goes ahead, employees from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Home Office and the Department for Transport could expect pay cuts of up to £5,000.

The research also found:

Pay cuts of up to 17% could be expected in cities such as Belfast, Leeds and Liverpool.
IT professionals in Belfast, hospitality workers in the North East and call centre staff in Edinburgh are currently among the most under-paid staff in the country, earning 30% less than the national averages for their professions.
Londoners earn 20% more on average, with huge salary premiums being paid to low-skilled workers in the capital, including nannies, bar staff and customer service workers.

Doug Monro, co-founder of Adzuna, said: “Because we list nearly every UK job advertisement in our search engine, we get a great birds-eye view of what employers are paying across the UK.

“Workers will always be paid a premium where demand outstrips supply, but the changes could well affect the prosperity of the regions and lead to even more migration into an overcrowded London.”