More than one million public sector workers to get pay rise

Prime Minister Theresa May is reportedly set to announce pay rises of between 1% and 4% to public workers including teachers, armed forces personnel and doctors on the last day of the parliamentary term.

The Government's pay restraint policy has seen a two-year freeze after the Conservative-led coalition came to power in 2010, followed by a 1% annual limit from 2013.

Unions and the Labour party have repeated calls for the cap to be lifted, with Jeremy Corbyn urging the Government to "see sense" on the issue last September.

Then, Mrs May confirmed a lifting of the 1% cap would happen in the future, with Number 10 announcing police would get a 1% hike in basic pay along with a 1% "non-consolidated" one-year lump sum.

The Times reports some teachers will receive a pay increase of 3.5%, prison service workers 2.75% and armed forces 2%, all of which will be backdated to the start of the financial year in April.

Separately, more than one million health workers are to receive a pay rise worth 6.5% for most staff over the next three years, after a deal was struck in June.

Members of 13 unions representing hospital cleaners, nurses, security guards, physiotherapists, emergency call handlers, paramedics, midwives, radiographers and other NHS staff across England voted to accept the deal.

The GMB is the only union involved in the NHS which has rejected the offer.

The proposed pay increases will be funded from departmental savings, rather than the Treasury offering new funds, The Sun reported.

It comes after members of the biggest civil service union backed strikes over pay but failed to meet a legal threshold on industrial action ballots.

The Public and Commercial Services union said on Monday 85% of those voting supported strikes in protest at the Government's policy on pay.

It was the the biggest yes vote in the union's history, but the turnout was 41% - below the 50% threshold.

In May, Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood said Britain's armed forces needed a pay rise in order to protect recruitment.

The Times reported the independent body that advises the Government on pay for members of the Army, Navy and RAF has provided its recommendations for the 2018-2019 pay round and suggested an increase of about 3%.