Public sector workers' pay should be cut to plug black holes in the public finances caused by the coronavirus crisis, a top think tank said today.
Freezing the wages of 5.5 million employees, including NHS staff, police and teachers for the next three years would slash £23billion from the Treasury bill, according to the Centre for Policy Studies.
Failing to hike salaries would in effect be a real-terms pay cut because wages would not keep pace with inflation, which is currently 0.5%.
Up to £11.7bn could be “saved” if increases were limited to 1%, analysts said. The CPS – which was set up by Margaret Thatcher and is led by Robert Colvile, who helped write last year's Conservative election manifesto – claims private sector workers have