Autumn budget 2022: What are public sector workers expecting from Hunt?

As nurses and teachers prepare to strike, how are public sector workers expecting to be impacted by Chancellor Jeremey Hunts’ fiscal budget?

With UK’s inflation sitting at 10.1%, public sector workers are already feeling the squeeze as they faced a one-year pay freeze over 2020/21.

The EIS, Scotland’s largest teachers’ union, have declared that teachers in Scotland will strike in pursuit of a 10% pay rise in line with inflation on November 24, exactly a week after UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is set to announce the government’s fiscal statement this Thursday.

A teacher at Craigmount High School, Edinburgh, expressed how they felt about predictions for this year’s Autumn budget: “I hear all of the ‘no good news for schools’ and ‘efficiency savings’ soundbites. Given that schools are already very much stretched, it seems strange to argue that further cuts won’t present a challenge”.

“When a salary isn’t in line with rises in inflation, and you’re worse off than a few years prior, the idea that further cuts are coming feels a lot to take”.

Hunt’s fiscal statement will effectively make it the country’s third budget this year. It comes after promises of tax hikes and public spending cuts.

In an interview with Laura Kuenssberg last week, Hunt implied everyone in the UK would feel the force of the budget, adding: “I think people will notice, because these are difficult decisions”.

In a 2022 report published by The House of Commons Library, public sector pay awards are predicted to be around 3% this year, a far cry from a rise in line with inflation that teachers are hoping to see.

After Westminster refused to increase their offer of a 4.5% wage increase for nurses in England and Wales, it seems not even the NHS will be exempt from strains caused by Hunts new budget.

In Scotland, members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) were balloted for the first time in 106 years after the Scottish governments’ offer of a 7% average wage increase was rejected by the majority of nurses.

Vidya Dsouza, a practice nurse in Leith, said she hoped the Autumn budget would bring a pay raise for nurses, and that her tax remained the same.

“Staffing levels across the board, especially in acute hospitals, is bad. This impacts patient care and staff. Staff are not paid enough to work under pressure – this should be fixed, along with a pay rise”.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has stated that an inflation-matching pay award of 10.1% to all public sector employees would cost almost £18 billion. It therefore seems unlikely that Hunt’s government will accommodate the demands of nurses and teachers as he attempts to reduce government debt, estimated around £50 billion.

Politics Home have predicted that Hunt will likely balance finances by implementing public sector cuts as well as tax rises.

An Edinburgh teacher said: “I’d like to see a more progressive system of tax where the top is squeezed significantly more. Middle income earners are really going to struggle economically”.

While Hunt is planning to freeze income tax bands for a further two years, critics have argued this ‘stealth tax’ will push earners into higher tax bands as wages rise in line with inflation and demands from public sector workers.

Unlikely not to be hit by rising tax, public sector employees wait anxiously to find out whether Education, or the UK’s esteemed National Health Service will be spared from extensive budget cuts.

Hunt’s statement is expected to take place at the House of Commons at 3:30pm and will be live streamed on Parliament Live.