What commitment can the Welsh Government give to staff in the Welsh devolved public sector regarding a pay award that will protect their living standards during the current economic crisis?
The UK Government's financial settlement for Wales falls far short of what is required to meet the very significant challenges faced by our public services and workers across Wales. The cost of living crisis is biting hard and inflation is having a significant impact on the budgets of the Welsh Government and those providing vital public services across Wales.
Welsh Ministers have carefully considered the expert, independent advice of our pay bodies with regards to the NHS and Teachers Pay and accepted their recommendations. Pay negotiations for the wider Welsh public sector are expected to begin shortly.
With our social partners in Wales, we call on the UK Government to urgently make available the funding necessary to meet the pressures being felt by our public services and to support fair pay rises for public sector workers.
Without this, we face considerable challenges and difficult decisions. Whatever happens, in Wales we are committed to work through the decisions we need to make using our social partnership structures and by bringing together trade unions, employers and government to deliver the best possible outcome within the funding we have available to us.