South West loses £3.9bn due to public sector pay squeeze

Issue date

21 Nov 2017

• Less money being spent on high streets and in local businesses, warns TUC
• Last year, the South West lost £812 million due to public sector pay restrictions

The public sector pay cap has reduced spending power in the South West by £3.9 billion since 2010 according to new analysis published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

The analysis shows working people in the public sector have seen a dramatic reduction in their spending power with workers on average, earning £2,608 less today than if their pay had risen in line with inflation (CPI).

In the last year alone, the South West economy has suffered a loss of over £812 million. And out of the 50 poorest constituencies in England, nine are based in the South West.

Recent TUC polling shows that one in seven (15%) public sector workers skipped meals this year to make ends meet. And one in four (24%) say they couldn’t pay an unexpected bill of £500.

Research published by the IPPR last week revealed that raising public sector pay would boost spending in local economies, help the public purse by raising tax revenues and reduce the cost of in-work benefits.

TUC South West Regional Secretary Nigel Costley said:

“The public sector pay squeeze has driven up in-work poverty. We are now seeing more working households living under the poverty line than ever before. Not only has this had personal and financial impact in the home, but it means less money is spent on high streets and in local businesses.

“The pay cap is a false economy. The Chancellor must use tomorrow’s Budget to give all public sector workers the pay rise they have earned, and end these artificial pay restrictions.”

Editors note

South West breakdown

	Total loss of disposable income 2010-2017	Total in-year Real terms pay loss 2010-17
CORNWALL
Camborne and Redruth	£45,182,277	£9,415,461
North Cornwall	£44,658,275	£9,306,265
South East Cornwall	£32,010,682	£6,670,654
St Austell and Newquay	£53,465,609	£11,141,611
St Ives	£34,136,888	£7,113,730
Truro and Falmouth	£112,968,054	£23,541,228
	£322,421,785	£67,188,949

DEVON
Central Devon	£24,871,586	£5,182,949
East Devon	£83,209,908	£17,339,976
Exeter	£188,521,570	£39,285,701
Newton Abbot	£49,889,688	£10,396,430
North Devon	£65,026,257	£13,550,715
South West Devon	£31,894,063	£6,646,352
Tiverton and Honiton	£34,333,790	£7,154,762
Torbay	£99,969,236	£20,832,425
Torridge and West Devon	£32,598,683	£6,793,186
Totnes	£33,978,093	£7,080,639
	£644,292,874	£134,263,135

PLYMOUTH
Plymouth, Moor View	£124,698,242	£25,985,663
Plymouth, Sutton & D'port	£71,238,139	£14,845,199
	£195,936,381	£40,830,862
Devon and Plymouth	£840,229,255	£175,093,997

DORSET
Mid Dorset & N Poole	£36,075,003	£7,517,611
South Dorset	£46,110,459	£9,608,883
North Dorset	£38,262,838	£7,973,530
West Dorset	£110,146,337	£22,953,215
Bournemouth East	£83,942,056	£17,492,548
Bournemouth West	£60,584,952	£12,625,199
Christchurch	£34,033,783	£7,092,244
Poole	£89,155,651	£18,579,000
	£498,311,079	£103,842,230

AVON
Bath	£98,364,863	£20,498,093
Bristol East	£45,361,326	£9,452,773
Bristol North West	£133,207,039	£27,758,797
Bristol South	£45,577,581	£9,497,837
Bristol West	£255,400,153	£53,222,420
Filton and Bradley Stoke	£159,169,705	£33,169,114
Kingswood	£32,075,648	£6,684,192
North East Somerset	£36,466,169	£7,599,125
North Somerset	£47,691,074	£9,938,265
Thornbury and Yate	£48,394,360	£10,084,821
Weston-Super-Mare	£56,262,935	£11,724,541
	£957,970,853	£199,629,978

WILTSHIRE
Chippenham	£62,096,797	£12,940,250
Devizes	£59,268,373	£12,350,839
North Wiltshire	£22,338,530	£4,655,090
Salisbury	£109,162,965	£22,748,292
South West Wiltshire	£58,332,416	£12,155,797
	£311,199,081	£64,850,268

SWINDON
North Swindon	£71,785,131	£14,959,186
South Swindon	£111,959,390	£23,331,034
	£183,744,521	£38,290,220
Wiltshire and Swindon	£494,943,602	£103,140,488

SOMERSET
Bridgwater & W Somerset	£76,977,472	£16,041,209
North East Somerset	£36,466,169	£7,599,125
North Somerset	£47,691,074	£9,938,265
Somerton and Frome	£30,546,052	£6,365,442
Taunton Deane	£137,961,598	£28,749,591
Wells	£37,808,941	£7,878,943
Weston-Super-Mare	£56,262,935	£11,724,541
Yeovil	£77,200,300	£16,087,644
	£500,914,541	£104,384,760

GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Cheltenham	£140,451,208	£29,268,397
Forest of Dean	£24,347,951	£5,073,830
Gloucester	£138,867,624	£28,938,397
Stroud	£40,585,613	£8,457,569
Tewkesbury	£47,008,210	£9,795,964
The Cotswolds	£31,620,483	£6,589,341
	£422,881,089	£88,123,498

- A full list of spending power losses by constituency, along with a breakdown of the 50 poorest is here: bit.ly/2zLmjDI

- IPPR study into the impacts, costs and benefits of removing the pay cap: www.ippr.org/research/publications/uncapped-potential

- All statistics are based on TUC calculations on official ONS figures. The number of full time equivalent public sector workers in each region or constituency is taken from the Nomis dataset. Public sector pay figures come from table Table 25.7a of ASHE ‘Annual pay for Public Sector - Gross (£) - For full-time employee’ and table 9.7a of ASHE ‘Annual pay - Gross (£) - For all employee’. Data based on all constituencies where ONS data available

- Salary losses have been calculated using the CPI measure of annual inflation for April of each year through to April 2017. CPI was the government’s preferred measure of inflation until 2017 and is preferable to CPIH when looking at earlier years, because the treatment of housing costs in CPIH changed significantly in 2014.

Stay Updated

Want to hear about our latest news and blogs?
Sign up now to get it straight to your inbox

Join a union