ALMOST 900,000 public sector workers, many of whom have fought on the front line against coronavirus, are to get an above-inflation pay rise reports the BBC.

Doctors, teachers and police officers are among those who will receive salary increases of up to 3.1% in 2020/21.

The Treasury said the cash would come from existing departmental budgets.

The chancellor said the workers made a “vital contribution” to the country, but Labour said the rise would not make up for years of real-terms cuts.

More than 300 NHS workers have died in England alone after contracting coronavirus, many doing so while caring for patients.

Teachers in England, and dentists and doctors across the UK, will see the largest increases at 3.1% and 2.8% respectively

Police, prison officers and National Crime Agency staff in England and Wales will be given a 2.5% rise in pay, while members of the armed forces across the UK will get 2%

Members of the judiciary and senior civil servants across the UK will also see their pay topped up by 2%.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “These past months have underlined what we always knew, that our public sector workers make a vital contribution to our country and that we can rely on them when we need them.

“It’s right, therefore, that we follow the recommendations of the independent pay bodies with this set of real-terms pay rises.”

But Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s shadow chancellor, said the Conservatives had frozen public sector pay for seven years, and the rises they introduced after that failed to plug the gap.

She said the pay rise was “good news” but added that it “won’t make up for a decade of real-term pay cuts” for many front line workers.

“Many other public sector workers – including those working on the front line in social care – won’t get a pay rise out of this at all because the
Tories haven’t made good on their promises to boost local authority funding,” she said.

“That’s not fair – and it’s no way to reward those who’ve been at the forefront of fighting this pandemic.”