THE worsening cost-of-living crisis is already beginning to bite, unions warned today as official figures reveal that wages are massively failing to keep up with skyrocketing inflation.

The TUC said today’s Office for National Statistics figures, which show real-terms pay has fallen by 1.6 per cent over the last year, mark the worst fall in wages in eight years.

Average weekly earnings excluding bonuses were up 3.8 per cent between November 2021 and January this year, but experts warn that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could see prices rise by as much as 9 per cent.