However, the chancellor failed to state how much of an increase public-sector workers will receive, or to allow independent pay-review bodies to make recommendations. Now he has reiterated that the pay freeze helped in ensuring that the gap between average public and private-sector wages did not widen further during the pandemic. At the time, he had argued he could not justify an across-the-board increase when many private sector workers had seen their pay and hours cut in the crisis. Rishi Sunak has lifted the pay freeze that was imposed on public sector workers a year ago. Pay rises for the public sector aren’t guaranteed. Our panel of experts react to what has been announced. UK chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled his autumn budget as the nation wrestles with recovery at the tail end of the COVID pandemic, supply shortages and a mounting crisis in the cost of living. University of Southampton, Birmingham City University, Sheffield Hallam University, Bangor University, Keele University, University of Bath, IMD Business School, University of Strathclyde, and York St John University provide funding as members of The Conversation UK. The Open University, University of Sheffield, and Glasgow Caledonian University provide funding as founding partners of The Conversation UK. The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Professorial Fellow, Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI), University of Sheffieldįull Professor in Industrial Strategy Deputy Director Centre for Governance, Regulation and Industrial Strategy (CGR&IS), University of BathĪssociate Professor, Institute for Design, Economic Acceleration & Sustainability (IDEAS), Birmingham City University Professor of Finance, International Institute for Management Development (IMD) Senior Lecturer in Economics and Personal Finance, The Open University Senior Teaching Fellow in Accounting, University of Southampton Senior Lecturer in Economics, Keele University

Yunus Chair and Pro Vice Chancellor Research, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityĬhancellor’s Fellow and Senior Lecturer at the School of Government and Public Policy, University of Strathclyde Senior Lecturer in Economics, Sheffield Hallam University Senior Lecturer at York Business School, York St John University

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