British employers offered staff pay rises averaging 2.5% as part of wage settlements in the three months to May, matching the trend seen for most of this year.

Human resources data firm XpertHR said pay settlements had hovered around the same level since the start of 2019, despite a small pick-up in inflation.

"Following a dip in the second half of 2018, the first half of 2019 is dominated by pay rises in the region of 2.5%," XpertHR analyst Sheila Attwood said.

After years of falls in pay when adjusted for inflation, 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.