TORY ministers must engage in proper negotiations over “credible pay offers that protect workers from rising prices,” the TUC said today after official figures revealed take-home wages are still falling. 

The gap between pay rises and the soaring cost of living remained at record highs in the three months to November last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) warned.

Salaries rose by 6.4 per cent — 7.2 per cent in the private sector and just 3.3 per cent across austerity-hit public services — but 40-year high double-digit inflation meant real wages slumped by a whopping 3.9 per cent.