HUGE gaps in pay between public sector workers in the North and the South could be introduced by the Government.

The Treasury wants to pay teachers, nurses and police officers more to reflect the high cost of living in the south and help ease recruitment problems in the south-east.

The plans, contained in a confidential document, are designed to bring the pay of public sector workers into line with the private sector.

Yesterday, nurses and teachers in the North-East said it was grossly unfair that they would be paid less for doing the same job.

Margaret Toase, a nurse and the Tees Valley branch secretary of public sector union Unison, said: "It is the same old story, with the south getting more. I think it is very unfair when we have our own recruitment problems up here.

"We are not greedy in the North-East - all we want is equity."

Tommy Grant, a community psychiatric nurse and spokesman for Unison members at the Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, said: "It is grossly unfair on staff in the North.

"We already have an extremely divisive pay system, with some staff being paid nationally and others paid locally. To introduce higher rates of pay in the south would further compound that."

The paper is being prepared by Treasury officials in preparation for summer spending announcements.

Public sector workers receives, on average, £200 a month less than those in the private sector and the Government is keen to close the gap.

Teachers in the south-east are staging a one-day strike today for more pay to reflect the higher cost of living in the region. Research has shown that rents in London are 54 per cent higher than other parts of the country.

Richard Appleton, headteacher of Eastbourne School, Darlington, has worked in in the south-east as well as the north.

He said: "The cost of living problems in the south are real and there needs to be some recognition for living costs.

"The idea that we would be paid differently for doing the same job is another concept. The two should be separate."