Workers in the public sector are likely to see their pay freezed over the state of public finances according to a report on the Recruiter news website.

This would mean that across the country salaries for everything from social care jobs to local administrative positions and public sector housing jobs would be fixed for the next few years.

Chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), David Kern, is reported as saying that the low rate of inflation means that "public sector pay could be frozen without causing undue pain" as an initial step in improving the state of public finances.

Kern said that "The size of the public sector must be pared back significantly over the next few years, so as to allow private firms to generate the wealth necessary to drive economic growth."

The Office for National Statistics provisional estimates for public finances in October found that there was a current budget deficit of £7.7bn. The report found that the net debt for the end of October 2009 was -59.2% of the UK's GDP at £829.7bn.

Managing director for the public sector at Morgan Hunt, Helen Stokes, said that it was inevitable that the public sector workforce would be affected by the debt. She predicted pay freezes and unfortunate but necessary job cuts, but said that she expected that these would not affect all areas negatively.

"The level of change faced by the public sector in itself presents opportunities - in the short term, HR and employee relations specialists will certainly be in demand, and beyond that we foresee change management and organisational development as a growth area".