Pay and wages
Public sector pay rose 6.3%. The NHS award was 3.3%.
The ONS put public sector regular pay growth at 6.3% in the year to July 2026, against 2.9% in the private sector — the gap is mostly timing.
The Circular
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- Benefits and statutory pay
Housing Benefit ignores up to £119.70 a week in supported housing
From 5 October 2026, Housing Benefit in supported and temporary accommodation ignores up to £119.70 a week of a resident's earnings.
- NJC local government
Glasgow offers pay protection to 2030. Unison says 4,600 have no grade.
Glasgow City Council's final offer includes pay protection to March 2030 and drops fire and rehire, but Unison says 4,600 staff have no grade yet.
More from The Circular
- Tax and National Insurance
Vape liquid now carries £2.20 duty per 10ml — old stock until March
- Household money
Electricity VAT hits 0% tomorrow — 5% stays in Northern Ireland
- Benefits and statutory pay
DWP can ask a court for your driving licence from 1 October
- Benefits and statutory pay
The two-child limit ended in April. 58,000 households were newly capped.
- NJC local government
Glasgow pauses fire and rehire. The new contracts still start 1 January
- NHS Agenda for Change
GP nurses' 3.5% rise comes with no duty on the practice to pay it
- Tax and National Insurance
Your savings tax letter lands by December. Do not pay it twice.
- NHS Agenda for Change
NHS Employers prints one 2026/27 hourly rate as £55,65
- Household money
827,000 Child Trust Funds are unclaimed. The average is £2,310.
- Jobs and rights at work
Two weeks off for pregnancy loss from April 2027 — and it is unpaid
- NHS Agenda for Change
Northern Ireland health pay is a year behind. Band 5 is £512 short.
- Tax and National Insurance
Making Tax Digital hits £30,000 in April 2027 — turnover, not profit
- Benefits and statutory pay
HMRC has paid £300m in Help to Save bonuses. The bar is £1.
- Benefits and statutory pay
Sick pay now starts on day one. Below £154 a week you get 80% of pay.
- Benefits and statutory pay
The DWP letters went out in June. Bank deductions start in October.
- Tax and National Insurance
One department changed 42 IR35 decisions in a single year
- Tax and National Insurance
HMRC will refund 3.2 million pensioners. The average is £6.
- Jobs and rights at work
BrewDog staff get nothing. The state pays 8 weeks, capped at £751.
- Tax and National Insurance
Your payslip shows tax deducted. HMRC may never have got it.
- Household money
Rents rose 3.8% in a year. The April pay award was 3.3%.
- Household money
Wandsworth's £958 council tax rise would face no referendum
- Benefits and statutory pay
Inflation is 3.1%. The figure that sets your benefits comes on 21 October
- Jobs and rights at work
Holiday pay records: the six-year duty and a 22 September deadline
- Tax and National Insurance
State Pension heads over the tax line — and HMRC bills by letter
- Jobs and rights at work
Tribunal claims get six months from 1 October — but not for September
- NHS Agenda for Change
NHS Employers' 2026/27 pay page prints band 8d hourly rate as £55,65
- NHS Agenda for Change
NHS band reform was promised backdated to April. Five months on, nothing.
- Benefits and statutory pay
Winter fuel: opt out by 20 September, or HMRC takes it back over £35,000
- Tax and National Insurance
Tell HMRC by 5 October if you had untaxed income last year
- Benefits and statutory pay
DWP to raise in-person PIP assessments from 6% to 30%
- NJC local government
GMB opens an indicative equal pay ballot at Leeds council on 18 September
- Household money
Bank Rate vote on 17 September: three of nine already want 4%
