Perhaps the decode of that brief is, "we know another real-terms pay cut will piss off a lot of people, but we reckon we'll just about get away with it again."
And, sadly, I suspect they're right. They haven't mentioned what the next round of cuts will do, sorry, what the SDSR will conclude is right to match the UK's defence requirements. One might be tempted to think that losing a few more might save some redundancy payments, reduce the pay bill and by keeping pay down, help to control the future pensions bill.
But that's all just supposition, of course. May I just take this opportunity to congratulate the MPs on their excellent, evidence based, inflation related, affordable, reasonable and necessary (on the grounds of recruitment and retention) pay rise.