Al R,
The public sector of course, is on a wage freeze
Not quite. The public sector was on a pay freeze for 2 years (according to the govt), which was actually 2 years and 364 days (i.e, 3 years by any non-coalition viewpoint). We then received a 1% pay rise on 1st April this year with the promise of a 1% pay rise next April.
Clearly, this is lagging inflation by some margin but not 'technically' a pay freeze.