The Leader of the Cumbria branch of a teacher's union has dismissed the idea that a public-sector pay rise would 'return Britain to the 70s.'

Chris Brooksbank, joint secretary of Cumbria NEU said: "We have seen real terms cuts since 2010, including years of no pay rise, and other groups and many in professional private sector jobs stretching away.

"If this government really do value the likes of teachers, nurses and the police, they must start to show it and offer significant pay rises to these public servants all of whom worked throughout the pandemic."

Treasury chief secretary Simon Clarke said in an interview that the Government 'enormously values' the work of public sector workers.

Mr Brooksbank's comments are in response Mr Clarke's warning that keeping public-sector pay rises in line with inflation would lead to an economic downturn similar to what was seen in the 1970s: 

"He probably wasn't around in the 1970's when the general situation was very different with the highest unemployment rates since the 30's.

"There were huge issues with getting and keeping teachers teaching, and a world of different workload expectations and pressures."

The unemployment rate across the UK fell to 3.7 per cent between January and March, its lowest for almost 50 years. There were 636,327 full-time teachers in the UK from 2020/21, a slight increase from 624,520 in 2019/20. 

The current inflation rate has risen by 7.8 per cent over the last year, according to the Office for National Statistics. An average teacher in the UK earns £30,761. 

Although teachers are due a pay award for 2022/23 in November, unions such as NEU argue that the value of teachers' pay has dropped by 20 per cent and that they should be compensated in those terms. 

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU said in a press statement yesterday: "We need a pay rise that at least matches inflation.

If this is not forthcoming, then we will proceed to an indicative ballot in the autum term with a formal ballot for strike action to follow if that is the recommendation of NEU members."