Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey has told MPs he will not take a pay rise this year if offered one. Mr Bailey said he would "politely decline".
Mr Bailey, who has an annual pay package of about £575,000, told the Treasury Committee: "It's not for me to decide but if I was offered one I would not accept it. I would politely decline as I have done before."
He added that the Bank has not decided its latest pay changes for employees. He indicated it would direct more support towards its lower-paid staff.
He said: "We have not done our pay round yet," he said. But the mix of pay in settlements will be different.
"We want to ensure that out lower-paid staff get a larger share of the pot that we are offering this year because I think that is the fair way to do it in the context of the situation we find ourselves in."
He sparked controversy earlier this year and was criticised by unions after saying that workers should avoid asking for excessive pay rises to prevent inflation increasing further. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in the summer: "I’m not saying don’t give yourself a pay rise. This is about the size of it (any rise)… we do need to see restraint."
Gary Smith, GMB general secretary, said at the time: “Telling the hard-working people who carried this country through the pandemic they don’t deserve a pay rise is outrageous."
Mr Bailey later sought to clarify his comments, telling MPs: "I’m not saying people should not take pay rises. It was in the context of large pay rises. If everybody tries to get ahead of the shock that we’ve had from outside, we’ll get the second round effects and it will get worse, that’s the problem."
