MNI DATA: UK Aug Pay Awards Rebounds to Year High: XpertHR

--UK June-August Pay Median Pay Deals 2.5% 

By Jai Lakhani

     LONDON (MNI) - UK median pay deals rebounded to 2.5% in the three months

through August after falling to 2.3% in the July period, a survey by XpertHR

found. 

     The median pay award across the whole economy was 2.5% between June and

August, with the middle half of pay awards (the interquartile range) worth

between 2.0% and 3.0%.

     The three months to August represents the end of the key pay bargaining

months. More than 7 in 10 pay settlements recorded on XpertHR's pay databank are

effected in the first four months of each calendar year. 

     --PERFORMANCE RELATED PAY SLIGHTLY HIGHER

     Based on a sample of 289 pay deals, organisations that operate

performance-related pay increased their paybill by a median 2.6% to fund these

awards. 

     On a sector basis, pay awards in the manufacturing/production sector were

strong at 2.5% in the three months up to August, but weaker than the three

months up to July where it was 2.9%. The services sector median pay award of

2.0% remained unchanged from the three months to July but down 0.5pp from the

June rolling three months. 

     "As the key pay bargaining months of the year are now behind us, we can

confirm that 2.5% is the headline pay award for the 2017/2018 pay bargaining

year. This marks half a percentage point uplift on the same period a year ago,"

said Shelia Atwood, XpertHR pay and benefits editor Shelia Atwood. 

     The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee's central forecast is for a

pick-up in earnings growth this year. However, the August inflation report

projections were revised down from the BOE's May projections. Headline average

weekly earnings growth were revised down from a forecast rise of 2.75% by the

end of 2018 to 2.5%.  

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203 865 3828; email: jai.lakhani@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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