LONDON - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and finance minister Jeremy Hunt are considering a deal to end a wave of strikes among Britain’s public-sector workers that would backdate 2023-2024’s pay rise, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt are mulling over giving National Health Service staff and other key workers a lump sum payment by backdating the pay award – which takes effect from April – likely to the start of January 2023, FT reported, citing officials familiar with the matter.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said health minister Steve Barclay has held talks with healthcare unions about what is affordable and fair for the 2023-2024 pay review body process.

These include wider concerns about pay, conditions and workload.

“We want to strike the right balance between what is fair for public-sector workers and what the taxpayer – ordinary people across the UK – can afford,” DHSC said in a statement.

A public-sector pay rise of less than 5 per cent for 2023-2024 would have a “low risk” of protracting high private-sector pay growth; 6 per cent would worsen inflation, and 7 per cent would “pose a significant risk” and could bring about higher interest rates, FT reported, citing a Treasury memorandum.

The Royal College of Nursing, the health workers union whose members have been engaged in strikes, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With inflation running at more than 10 per cent – the highest level in four decades – Britain has seen a wave of strikes in recent months across the public and private sectors.

The protesters have included health and transport workers, Amazon warehouse employees and Royal Mail staff.

They are demanding above-inflation pay rises to cover rocketing food and energy bills that they say have left them struggling to make ends meet. REUTERS