British employers offered staff pay rises averaging 2.5% as part of wage settlements in the three months to April, matching the trend seen earlier in 2019, industry data showed.

Human resources data firm XpertHR said pay settlements had hovered around the same for the past four months, despite a small pick-up in inflation.

After years of real-terms falls in pay, Britain's workers have had some of the biggest pay rises in a decade in recent months due to a tight labour market, though they are modest compared to pre-financial crisis rates of pay growth.

The risk of a disruptive Brexit has made some employers keener to hire new staff, who can be sacked if the economy sours, than to make long-term labour-saving investments.