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Public Sector Pay Review

Multiple government departments including the Department of Health and Social Care, HM Treasury, and the Home Office are conducting the 2026-27 public sector pay review, coordinated by the Office of Manpower Economics and the Senior Salaries Review Body. The review addresses recruitment and retention challenges across the public sector, with particular focus on teacher pay which has fallen significantly in real terms since 2010, and fair pay agreements in adult social care. This is an active pay round with draft statutory instruments and economic evidence submissions underway.

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9 Jul 2025 | Written evidence linked

The Department regards pay as its strongest lever in recruiting and retaining teachers. For example, following the most recent 5.5% pay award, the Department reduced its teacher trainee targets as it expected 2,500 more teachers to stay. However, teacher pay has lagged behind others – in 2024, those working in the education sector were paid around 10% less in real terms than in 2010, with the wider public sector being paid on average 2.6% less than in 2010.58 Written evidence from the Nationa...

The Department regards pay as its strongest lever in recruiting and retaining teachers. For example, following the most recent 5.5% pay award, the Department reduced its teacher trainee targets as it expected 2,500 more teachers to stay. However, teacher pay …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
17 May 2024 | Committee report linked

Teacher salaries need to be attractive in order to boost recruitment. We welcome the introduction of a £30k starting salary as a step towards improved competitiveness. However, it is clear that this salary will have to be increased in the coming years if it is to remain competitive. Whilst initiatives such as the levelling up premium may help in certain areas, the issue of pay competitiveness will need to be kept under review across the board and both starting salaries and progression must be...

Teacher salaries need to be attractive in order to boost recruitment. We welcome the introduction of a £30k starting salary as a step towards improved competitiveness. However, it is clear that this salary will have to be increased in the …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
17 May 2024 | Committee report linked

We understand the Department’s budgetary pressures. However, in order to compete with other sectors and improve recruitment and retention, teacher pay must keep pace year on year with other comparable sectors. It is also essential that funding to enable the continued competitiveness of teacher salaries does not adversely impact levels of funding elsewhere in the schools budget. (Paragraph 45) 76 Teacher recruitment, training and retention

We understand the Department’s budgetary pressures. However, in order to compete with other sectors and improve recruitment and retention, teacher pay must keep pace year on year with other comparable sectors. It is also essential that funding to enable the …

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17 May 2024 | Committee report linked

Where available, bursaries and scholarships improve teacher recruitment. We heard strong evidence that bursaries should be targeted where they will be most effective, such as for subjects with longstanding under-recruitment, subjects where demand is expected to increase and subjects that have particularly competitive job markets. However, we also heard concerns about the negative impact of targeted financial incentives on recruitment to teach non-bursary subjects.

Where available, bursaries and scholarships improve teacher recruitment. We heard strong evidence that bursaries should be targeted where they will be most effective, such as for subjects with longstanding under-recruitment, subjects where demand is expected to increase and subjects that …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
22 Mar 2024 | Committee report linked

Chronic pay issues within the civil service have lowered morale and risk departments not being able to recruit and retain skilled staff. The Cabinet Office acknowledges that there are longstanding issues within the civil service relating to pay and reward. These include a long-term decline in real-terms pay, which has reduced levels of staff satisfaction within the civil service. As departments can set their own pay scales, there are also persistent disparities in how much people at the same ...

Chronic pay issues within the civil service have lowered morale and risk departments not being able to recruit and retain skilled staff. The Cabinet Office acknowledges that there are longstanding issues within the civil service relating to pay and reward. …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
22 Mar 2024 | Committee report linked

As part of their employer responsibilities, departments are delegated the authority to set pay for their staff below SCS level. Each department sets its own pay structure which defines pay rates for each grade. Annual pay increases are governed by the central pay remit guidance issued by the Cabinet Office, which specifies the maximum amount that civil service pay can go up each year.27

As part of their employer responsibilities, departments are delegated the authority to set pay for their staff below SCS level. Each department sets its own pay structure which defines pay rates for each grade. Annual pay increases are governed by …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
22 Mar 2024 | Committee report linked

Civil service pay for almost all grades has seen a long-term decline. Since 2013, civil service median pay has decreased in real terms for all grades apart from the most junior grade (Administrative Assistant).28 The Cabinet Office recognised that declining real-terms pay was a “chronic” problem affecting the civil service that was “storing up increasing problems of competitiveness with the wider economy”.29 The Cabinet Office further acknowledged there was evidence that pay affected departme...

Civil service pay for almost all grades has seen a long-term decline. Since 2013, civil service median pay has decreased in real terms for all grades apart from the most junior grade (Administrative Assistant).28 The Cabinet Office recognised that declining …

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22 Mar 2024 | Committee report linked

Other longstanding civil service pay issues include the existence of pay disparities between departments for staff at the same grade level. For example, differences between the higher executive officer (HEO) pay band at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and HMRC mean that the highest HEO salary in Defra’s pay structure is £1,601 less than the lowest HEO salary HMRC offers.32 Additionally, as at March 2022, senior executive officer (SEO) median salaries varied by up ...

Other longstanding civil service pay issues include the existence of pay disparities between departments for staff at the same grade level. For example, differences between the higher executive officer (HEO) pay band at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
22 Mar 2024 | Committee report linked

Departments vary quite substantially in their approaches to performance-related pay, including how much they spend on it. For example, departmental per-head spending on performance-related pay in 2021–22 ranged from £13 to £1,366 per employee, for staff 27 C&AG’s Report, para 3.2 28 C&AG’s Report, para 1.10, Figure 6 29 Q56 30 Q54 31 Q56 32 C&AG’s Report, para 3.4 33 C&AG’s Report, para 3.5 34 C&AG’s Report, paras 16–18 35 Qq60–62 36 Qq63–64 Civil service workforce: Recruitment, pay and perfo...

Departments vary quite substantially in their approaches to performance-related pay, including how much they spend on it. For example, departmental per-head spending on performance-related pay in 2021–22 ranged from £13 to £1,366 per employee, for staff 27 C&AG’s Report, para …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
13 Sep 2023 | Committee report linked

CDDO told us that government can offer interesting and rewarding opportunities, and the possibility for digital career progression up to levels of seniority that were almost unheard of several years ago.28 It believes this can make a career in the civil service a more attractive proposition.29 Nevertheless, we are still concerned that, if pay is consistently lower than outside the civil service, government is over-reliant on the goodwill of staff.30

CDDO told us that government can offer interesting and rewarding opportunities, and the possibility for digital career progression up to levels of seniority that were almost unheard of several years ago.28 It believes this can make a career in the …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
24 Mar 2023 | Committee report linked

The Government should assess the impact of further salary increases on recruitment targets for STEM subjects with particularly acute shortages; and detail its findings in its response to this Report. It should also tell us what further interventions are planned for subjects where recruitment targets are unlikely to be met, whether it has undertaken any assessment of the impact that increased numbers of STEM graduates from university courses would have of teaching workforce shortages, and whet...

The Government should assess the impact of further salary increases on recruitment targets for STEM subjects with particularly acute shortages; and detail its findings in its response to this Report. It should also tell us what further interventions are planned …

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25 Mar 2022 | Committee report linked

The number of academy trusts paying at least one individual above £150,000 increased to 473 trusts (17% of trusts) in 2019/20, from 340 trusts (12%) in 2018/19. Almost two- thirds of trusts (1,772; 64%) in 2019/20 reported paying at least one individual between £100,000 and £150,000, compared with just over half (1,535; 53%) in the prior year. The Department reported within the SARA that the actions resulting from its review of excessive pay in 2017/18 are expected to be realised in future ye...

The number of academy trusts paying at least one individual above £150,000 increased to 473 trusts (17% of trusts) in 2019/20, from 340 trusts (12%) in 2018/19. Almost two- thirds of trusts (1,772; 64%) in 2019/20 reported paying at least …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
22 Oct 2021 | Committee report linked

The Department cannot say when it will implement its commitment to a starting salary of £30,000 for new teachers. In September 2019, the Government set out its intention that salaries for new teachers would rise to £30,000 by September 2022, in order to improve the competitiveness of teacher pay. In February 2021, it told the School Teachers’ Review Body that it had paused planned pay rises for teachers in 2021/22, and that starting salaries would not reach £30,000 by September 2022. The Depa...

The Department cannot say when it will implement its commitment to a starting salary of £30,000 for new teachers. In September 2019, the Government set out its intention that salaries for new teachers would rise to £30,000 by September 2022, …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
22 Oct 2021 | Committee report linked

In September 2019, the Government set out its intention that salaries for new teachers would rise to £30,000 nationally by September 2022. It stated that this increase would make teacher pay among the most competitive in the graduate labour market.46 However, at the 2020 Spending Review, the Government announced that pay rises in the public sector would be restrained and targeted in 2021–22. The Department said, in evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body, that it had paused planned pay r...

In September 2019, the Government set out its intention that salaries for new teachers would rise to £30,000 nationally by September 2022. It stated that this increase would make teacher pay among the most competitive in the graduate labour market.46 …

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22 Oct 2021 | Committee report linked

The Department said that it remained committed to the £30,000 starting salary for teachers. It explained that it had had to adjust the rate of progress towards this based on conversations with HM Treasury and on the wider context. It stated that pay increases in September would represent an average rise of 3.1%, but this would be significantly weighted towards starting salaries, with 5.5% going on salaries for new teachers.51 The Department said that the question of when it might implement it...

The Department said that it remained committed to the £30,000 starting salary for teachers. It explained that it had had to adjust the rate of progress towards this based on conversations with HM Treasury and on the wider context. It …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
22 Oct 2021 | Written evidence linked

In its written evidence, the National Association of Head Teachers emphasised the need to improve salaries for teachers and school leaders as a critical element of any strategy to resolve the “longstanding recruitment and retention crisis”. It said that schools did not have the fiscal headroom to reverse the real-terms decline in the salaries of teachers and leaders, and that all future employer costs, including salary, National Insurance and pension contributions, should be fully funded by g...

In its written evidence, the National Association of Head Teachers emphasised the need to improve salaries for teachers and school leaders as a critical element of any strategy to resolve the “longstanding recruitment and retention crisis”. It said that schools …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
11 Dec 2020 | Committee report linked

The civil service struggles to attract and retain specialist staff. Since 2010 the civil service has been subject to pay restrictions, which have limited its ability to offer progressive pay packages to staff. Areas such as Digital and Commercial have struggled to recruit and retain specialists because there is strong external competition for these skills. Functions have introduced their own pay flexibility measures to attract external talent and increase skills retention. However, pay flexib...

The civil service struggles to attract and retain specialist staff. Since 2010 the civil service has been subject to pay restrictions, which have limited its ability to offer progressive pay packages to staff. Areas such as Digital and Commercial have …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
11 Dec 2020 | Committee report linked

The Cabinet Office recognised that rules introduced in 2010 on civil service pay make it difficult to attract and retain skilled specialists in some areas.15 Some skills, such as the ability to lead large projects, are particularly scarce. The Cabinet Office told us the areas which experience the highest levels of turnover are those with a strong external market, such as Commercial and Digital. These functions can often find themselves bidding against external competitors who can offer more m...

The Cabinet Office recognised that rules introduced in 2010 on civil service pay make it difficult to attract and retain skilled specialists in some areas.15 Some skills, such as the ability to lead large projects, are particularly scarce. The Cabinet …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
11 Dec 2020 | Committee report linked

Some functions, such as the Commercial function, have introduced pay flexibility in order to try and increase recruitment of specialists. The Cabinet Office told us that the use of flexibilities in the Government Commercial Organisation had been an effective way to bring in external talent and to consolidate internal talent. It said the turnover rate within the Commercial function had fallen from 25% to 7%, a figure that is lower than the average rate of turnover within the civil service. The...

Some functions, such as the Commercial function, have introduced pay flexibility in order to try and increase recruitment of specialists. The Cabinet Office told us that the use of flexibilities in the Government Commercial Organisation had been an effective way …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK
11 Dec 2020 | Committee report linked

Pay flexibilities can however lead to disparities in specialist pay, which can create an internal market between departments for those with specialist skills. To tackle this, the Cabinet Office explained how it is managing the issue. For senior civil service pay grades, pay exception processes have been put in place and the Heads of Functions now actively share and assess salary information across both functions and departments. The Cabinet Office told us it has also put in place restrictions...

Pay flexibilities can however lead to disparities in specialist pay, which can create an internal market between departments for those with specialist skills. To tackle this, the Cabinet Office explained how it is managing the issue. For senior civil service …

▤ View document · ↗ GOV.UK