My Department produces annually a booklet called Analysis of Exchequer Pay and Pensions Bill which gives details of developments of Exchequer pay and pensions. The booklet is also available on the Department of Finance's website.
The details cover the public service but excludes both the local authorities and the commercial semi-State bodies since these are not financed by the Exchequer.
The information in relation to the total public service pay bill is as follows:
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
4,669
|
5,153
|
5,606
|
6,114
|
6,798
|
+5.2%
|
+10.4%
|
+8.8%
|
+9.1%
|
+11.2%
|
The increases in the consumer price index in the same period were:
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
1.6%
|
1.5%
|
2.4%
|
1.6%
|
5.6%
|
The estimated public service pay expenditure for the year 2001 is £7,964 million which represents an increase of 17.2% over year 2000. The estimated consumer price index figure for 2001 is 4.5%
The comparison of the increase in the pay and pensions bill with the rate of increase in the CPI is, however, misleading. The pay and pensions bill increases because of a number of factors, not just pay rate increases. For example, developments in services which include any increase in the numbers employed will have an impact. The pay bill as a percentage of net current non-capital supply spending has remained between 49% and 51% in the period. As a percentage of GDP it has declined from 10.3% in 1996 to 7.9% in 2000.