UK private sector pay awards held at 3.5% in 3 months to March, IDR survey shows

LONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - Median annual ​pay settlements ⁠offered by British private ​sector employers held steady in March, according to a survey published ​a ‌week after the Bank of England left interest rates ⁠unchanged while it assesses inflationary pressure ⁠in the economy.

Incomes Data ​Research said on Thursday that the median pay rise awarded by major employers was 3.5% in the January ​to ‌March period. IDR said pay awards might have risen in April when a 4.1% increase in Britain's minimum wage to 12.71 pounds ($17.32) an hour came into ​force.

"Higher-end awards worth 4% or more are more ‌common in April than at the start of the year due to the ‌influence of the uplift in the National Living Wage," Zoe Woolacott, a senior researcher at IDR, said.

IDR also ​said:

* The proportion of firms offering pay rises of 4% ‌or more rose above 20% from 16% in February

* Wage settlements in private sector services rose to a median ⁠of ⁠3.5% in March from 3.3% the ‌month before

* Pay awards in manufacturing and production sectors were unchanged ​from ​February at 3.5%

* The survey was ‌based on 87 awards between January 1 and March 31 which covered 630,455 employees ($1 = 0.7338 pounds) (Reporting by Suban Abdulla; editing by David Milliken)