The number of public-sector staff struggling to survive on poverty pay is actually double the figure than previously estimated, research revealed yesterday while MPs mulled over the prospect of a massive 11 per centsalary rise.

The New Economics Foundation (Nef) said one million local authority employees are now living on low wages - equivalent to one in four of the workforce.

It found frozen wages coupled with the soaring cost of living have left public-sector workers £2,000 worse off on average compared with when the Tories took power in 2010.