LONDON (Reuters) – Pay freezes among British employers are on the rise as they grapple with the fallout from the coronavirus lockdown, a survey showed on Thursday.
Human resources data provider XpertHR said 15% of pay deals in the three months to the end of May offered no increase in wages – almost double the proportion in the three months to April.
“Across the private sector, alongside the many organisations delaying a decision on their annual pay review, the number reverting to a pay freeze is increasing,” XpertHR pay and benefits editor Sheila Attwood said.
“With the potential for redundancies looming, frozen or reduced pay is likely to be used as a way to minimise the number of job losses.”
In the three months to the end of May, XpertHR recorded a 2.2% median basic pay award across the economy, unchanged from the previous period, based on a sample of 243 basic pay awards.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)
