The National Living Wage - a minimum wage rate which does not apply to apprentices or workers aged under 23 - is set to rise by 9.7% at the start of April to 10.42 pounds ($12.67) an hour. The Bank of England is keeping a wary eye on pay growth, as many of its policymakers fear above-average pay rises will slow the fall in inflation, which hit a 41-year high of 11.1% in October and remains in double digits.
The IDR report also comes out just hours before finance minister Jeremy Hunt presents his annual budget statement, against a backdrop of strikes from doctors, nurses, transport workers and civil servants who are all seeking bigger pay rises. IDR said its data mostly reflected private-sector wage deals - especially in manufacturing - as few public-sector wage agreements were reached between November and January. In total, the figures include 75 pay deals covering more than half a million workers. Some of the biggest pay rises included 14% increases for workers at Ford Motor Company and at BMW's MINI car plant.
Official figures published on Tuesday showed wage growth slowed in the quarter to January with basic pay, excluding bonuses up 6.5% compared with a 6.7% rise in the three months to the end of December. ($1 = 0.8221 pounds) (Reporting by Suban Abdulla Editing by David Milliken)
