John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said curbing public sector pay would not improve the public finances a great deal.
 
He also warned of the damaging effect on attracting and keeping staff.

"The government needs to be wary of the dangers of a prolonged squeeze on public sector pay. Keeping the lid on pay for year after year would cut costs at the expense of severe public sector recruitment and retention difficulties," he said.

"This would harm the quality of public service provision as public sector employers would have to make do with lower quality staff, while history suggests that periods of tight pay restraint are subsequently followed by periods of significant public sector pay inflation when earnings are raised to competitive rates."