Missing £250

Hundreds of thousands of low paid local government workers including home carers, residential care workers, cleaners and teaching assistants will have missed out on a pay rise again this year, according to the public services union UNISON.

When staff look at their pay slips on 1 April, the £250 increase promised by chancellor George Osborne to public sector workers earning under £21,000 will be missing for a third year in a row.

Heather Wakefield, head of local government at UNISON, said: “Living on poverty wages is no joke. It is a disgrace that George Osborne has tried to fool local government workers and the public into believing he cared enough about the hardship of low pay to announce he would cushion the impact of the government pay freeze.

“Try feeding your family or paying your bills when you have not had a pay rise for three years. £250 isn’t much to the likes of George Osborne but every little helps when you are on minimum wages."

Council workers will have suffered a 15% pay cut in three years and now earn 10% less in real terms (that is accounting for inflation) than in 1996.

www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2655