Don’t be bamboozled by bonuses: pay is falling

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown

Total pay (including bonuses) grew 4.8% in the year to November-January and regular pay 3.8%.
After inflation, total pay is up 0.1%, but regular pay is down 1% (inflation over the three months averaged 4.8%).
This is the first time that real regular pay has fallen by 1% in a three-month period since summer 2014, and it has been falling since November last year.
In the public sector, total pay was up just 2.4%, compared to 5.3% in...