Pay restraint and pay growth (or lack of it) in the public sector has been the subject of much debate and concern in recent years. ‘Our economy should work for everyone', said Theresa May at the last Conservative Party Conference, ‘but if your pay has stagnated for several years in a row and fixed items of spending keep going up, it doesn't feel like it's working for you'.

Too true. And the one in six workers who ply their trade in the public sector will know exactly what she is talking about. Living costs are rising at an increasingly rapid pace and, thanks to the 1% cap imposed by the current government, pay in our sector has been falling behind.