Nearly 100 council leaders have written to the chancellor demanding extra funding for workers and an end to the public sector pay cap.
The news comes just days after local government employers submitted an offer of a 2% pay rise in each of the next two years.
A letter to a national newspaper signed by 91 Labour council leaders and mayors read: ‘We rely on hundreds of thousands of dedicated council workers who go the extra mile in keeping our children safe, supporting vulnerable elderly and disabled people, and in staffing the many services we all use – such as children’s centres, parks, and libraries.
‘Those workers deserve a pay rise.
‘With the cost of living having risen by 22.6% since 2010, local government workers have lost the equivalent of £1 of every £5 they earned before and are now the lowest paid in the public sector.
‘Our ability to pay our workers what they deserve is severely restrained by the cuts forced on local councils – our core funding will have been slashed by an astonishing 77% by 2020.
‘We have written to the chancellor to demand that he lifts the pay cap on public sector workers and uses the forthcoming local government finance settlement to fully fund the proper pay rise our workers deserve.’