There has been a sharp increase in the number of public sector workers looking for new employment as impatience grows with pay freezes, according to Jobsgopublic, the online recruitment and resourcing specialist within the public and not for profit sector. A 2014 survey of public sector jobseekers shows that five times as many candidates hunting for jobs on their website said they were already employed, and did not require a new job immediately, as compared with 2013.

This rise reflects growing disillusionment among public sector workers with ongoing pay freezes. The Government in March announced a mere one percent rise in public sector pay for 2014/15, four years after austerity measures were first introduced. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that public sector pay will fall by eight percent relative to the private sector between 2012/13 and 2018/19. Miles Skelton, Managing Director of Jobsgopublic, says: “More and more public sector employees are reaching their breaking points over declining real-terms pay, and are on the hunt for new jobs. They have no intention of leaving the public sector, but are finding that switching to a new employer may be the most direct way to get their pay progression back on track. While the one percent pay rise announced in March prompted some unions to talk about the potential for industrial action, it seems that a lot of workers in the public sector have decided that the best response to the continuing pay freeze is to start looking for new employment.”

Miles Skelton concluded: “While pay freezes are frustrating those who are already employed in the public sector, it seems that private sector workers are becoming more confident that job security within the sector is returning. That’s great news for many public sector employers who are keen to recruit from the private sector in order to build teams with the right mix of skills.”