Budget expert warns cutting nurses' real pay will hammer morale and services

16 March 2023 , 13:06

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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Budget was scrutinised by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Tory-inflicted real terms pay cuts for teachers, nurses and civil servants will hammer recruitment, morale and services across the public sector, a top economist warned today.

Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson scoffed at Conservative claims wage rises were “unaffordable” - and accused Chancellor Jeremy Hunt of making a “choice” to ignore pay hike pleas from unions.

He highlighted how the Government instead opted to spend £20billion a year on “other things” when he unveiled his Budget.

Delivering the think-tank’s post-Budget analysis, Mr Johnson warned: “You cannot keep cutting the pay of teachers, nurses and civil servants, both in real terms and relative to the private sector, without consequences for recruitment, retention, service delivery, morale and, as we’ve seen yesterday and today, strikes.

“Money will have to be found from somewhere.

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“Perhaps the Chancellor will dip into his fairly substantial £14bn Reserve for next year to fund a one-off or backdated pay award.

IFS chief Paul Johnson (Mirror Screen Grab)

“More generally, the argument that this is not affordable founders on the fact that Mr Hunt found £20bn a year yesterday for other things.

“This is of course - as all of this is - a question of choices and priorities."

He added: “Keeping public sector falling relatively to that in the private sector isn’t sustainable in the long run without a fall in the quality of public services because you'll either not be able to recruit people at all, or you’ll be able to recruit people who are less well-qualified than in the past, so that’s a key choice for government.”

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Ben Glaze