An Institute for Government line chart, showing that real-terms pay for civil servants has fallen substantially at most individual grades since 2010 - from an 3.2% fall at AA/AO level to 24% at SCS level. For all grades, there has been a recovery in real terms pay (most pronounced for AA/AOs) since 2023. But overall real-terms median civil service pay is now just higher than in 2010, because of 'grade inflation' - the early promotion of staff so they can get a pay rise and be retained.