Take-home pay

Payments technology provider Vocalink recorded “the fastest growth in UK private sector take-home pay” in March since the summer of 2012 in figures published last month.

Manufacturing posted a 3.4% three-month average annual rise against 1.3% in the three months to February. And the services figure in March was 3.1%, after steadier growth of over 2% in earlier months. The figure for FTSE 350 companies as a whole was also up to 3.1% from 2.3%.

The public sector registered an average rise of just 0.7% against 0.8% for February. These small public sector improvements since the start of 2014 look significant only in comparison with the six months between April and September last year, when average take-home pay shrank.

The findings are based on “hard” data, rather than survey responses, captured from the salary payments of over 200 FTSE 350 companies and 600 public sector organisations.