Union negotiators have urged all public service unions to join a coordinated campaign, supported by industrial action ballots, for improved pay.

Derek Mullen, Fórsa national secretary and head of the union’s Civil Service Division, is retiring after more than 40 years as a civil servant and union leader.

"The welcome and long-overdue restoration of the Haddington Road hours earlier this month was the best demonstration yet of the stronger voice and better protection civil servants have gained since the creation of Fórsa."

Revised legislation to implement the Government’s promise to give all workers a right to request remote working won’t be published until the autumn at the earliest.

Inflation is likely to average close to 8% over the whole of 2023 before falling gradually to around 4% by the middle of next year. That’s the latest view from the trade union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI).

More than 38 million people in Europe can’t afford a week's holiday despite being employed, according to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). It said poverty wages had added three million to last year’s figures.