According to the Industrial Relations Service, average pay rises in the UK have stayed at around 3%. Public sector employees seem to have faired a little better with average pay rises of 3.5%.
Our View
With inflation around the 3% mark, more and more employees seem to be achieving only inflationary rises, rather than rises for merit. This has changed over the years, most probably because over the last 4 years companies have not enjoyed a large amount of growth and profitability. Many companies are being forced to cut margins to compete and this will always impact on profitability and ultimately, pay rises.