The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Autumn Statement of 2011 that the public sectorpay freeze would come to an end in 2012/13, with public sector pay awards of 1 per cent planned overthe next 2 years thereafter. Emphasis was also placed on making public sector pay more responsive tolocal labour market conditions. Evidence from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) was quoted whichrevealed a public/private sector pay premium of around 8 per cent and which found substantialdifferences across the country in the region pay premium.