UK public sector wages rise by 2.7% in a year as strikes loom

Nurses have rejected the government’s pay offer and plan to go ahead with strikes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in favour of a deal that adds 5% to the RPI measure of inflation. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

UK public sector wages increased by 2.7% in the year to October, according to official figures that will fuel the anger of rail and health sector workers preparing to go on strike in the run-up to Christmas.

The figure falls vastly short of the headline rate of inflation, now 11.1%, laying bare the cost of living challenge that is hitting public sector workers particularly hard.