That's a good point. The other option is just to guarantee an annual cost of living increase based on RPI.
People in the private sector (I'm one of them despite working in the broad public sector) being against pay rises for public sector workers is misguided. Where is the incentive for any employer to increase pay if you know wages are suppressed elsewhere?
I agree with the latter point. It's the same whenever people protest about removal of conditions, perks etc. because they don't have them. Surely they should be supported to maintain them, and then everybody campaigns for other areas to *gain* them too!
That being said, Covid has exposed certain benefits I hadn't thought of until now of the public sector. I work both private, and public. The private job has all-but evaporated (depended on funding, and the funding is going into rescuing projects already up and running, rather than new ones) whereas the public job is, at least, secure in its hours and pay, and tbf to senior management, they've managed the crisis very well, in my view.
I don't think, however, it's appropriate for pay rises this year as it is exceptional. What that money should be used for is funding additional jobs, re-training, and other areas that will be needed going forward. By all means, in normal circumstance it's been ludicrous that public sector pay has been frozen as long as it has, but we're not in normal times. Compared to my other job, I'm glad to have one at all atm!
And yes, I appreciate it's probably naive to expect funding for public benefit going forward but... you never know!