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This petition was submitted during the 2017 to 2019 Parliament

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Closed petition Pay Up Now! – Scrap the pay cap and give public servants a meaningful pay rise

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Every single person who works in public services needs and deserve a pay rise. It’s time for the pay cap to be scrapped, for the government to provide additional funding for public sector pay and for employers to put public sector workers pay up now.

For more than seven years, everyone who works in public services has seen their pay decline, thanks to the public sector pay cap. Inflation is currently at 2.9%, meaning that the cap is a significant annual pay cut for those public service champions – nurses, care workers, teaching assistants, social workers and so many others - who work for all of us. Public sector pay has risen by just 4.4% between 2010 and 2016 while the cost of living rose by 22%.

149,138 signatures


Petition progress

View all updates for this petition, with the most recent first.

  • Petition closed

  • Parliament will debate this petition on 4 December 2017

    You’ll be able to watch online on the UK Parliament YouTube channel.

  • Government responded to this petition

    Public sector workers deserve to have fulfilling jobs that are fairly rewarded. On 12 September we announced a move away from the 1% public sector pay policy, towards a more flexible approach on pay.

    Read the response in full

    We still need to deal with our country’s debts to ensure we have a strong economy to enable us to invest in our public services. This means that we will continue to take a balanced approach to public spending.

    The Government will consider each specific workforce to ensure pay is set so that we can continue to both attract and hold on to the excellent staff that support our world-leading public services.

    Before we make final decisions on pay awards, we will seek the views of the eight independent Pay Review Bodies, which will consider the evidence on how we ensure we attract and retain the very best people within our public services, like giving people more flexibility over their working hours.

    They will report in Spring 2018, at which point we will consider their recommendations and announce public sector pay awards for each of those workforces.

    HM Treasury

  • This petition will be considered for debate in Parliament

    This petition got more than 100,000 signatures meaning the Petitions Committee will consider it for debate in Parliament.

  • Government will respond to this petition

    This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 12 March 2018.