Unions are warning of a mass departure of council staff thanks to the ongoing freeze in wages, according to trade unions.

Chancellor George Osborne yesterday used his Budget to announce the continuation of a public sector pay cap of 1% rises per year until 2019/20.

He said there was a ‘simple trade-off between pay and jobs in many public services’, adding that while there had ‘already been a period of restraint’ the Government needed to find ‘commensurate savings in this Parliament’.

However trade union Unison has warned the ‘miserly’ measure meant public sector staff remained ‘shut out’ of the economic recovery.

Unison general secretary, Dave Prentis, said: ‘Capping wages at a miserly one per cent for four more years for public sector workers will hasten the reluctant exit of many dedicated staff from our hospitals, schools and local councils.

‘Britain won’t have public services fit for 21st century needs, unless wages for public servants are high enough to attract the best recruits. Pay austerity might be over for MPs but it’s set to continue for many more years for everyone else in the public sector.’

Unite also demanded an immediate end to ‘public sector pay attacks’, warning that the continued restraint would hamper the national economic recovery by limiting worker spending.

The union’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, said: ‘Having faced almost a decade of collapsing wages, the millions across the public sector who keep our country running will be furious that they face a further four years of pay pain.’