A petition calling on the Government to reverse a pay freeze on civil servants has been signed by more than 100,000 people.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union called for a parliamentary debate following support for its campaign to reward civil servants with a decent wage rise after a “decade of pay restraint”.

The union said Civil Service pay has fallen in value by around 20% over 10 years while government workers have been “overpaying“ to their pension contributions.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This is a fantastic achievement and shows that there is real appetite amongst the public to see the pay freeze lifted.

“Civil servants and government workers deserve to be rewarded properly for all their professionalism and dedication throughout Covid-19.

“Government attempts to play private sector and public sector staff against one another is doomed to failure and we demand they reverse their pay freeze immediately.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said this week that there would not be an across-the-board pay rise in the public sector because of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.