Maybe you have a specific set of circumstances. I can see there've been below inflation pay rises but not no pay rises for nearly 10 years.
I can't speak for the others, but I know we've not had one. Thinking back, the first year I started I think we got 1% so it's probably more like 9yrs.
Personally, it's become something of a running joke and most people have now given up which can be hilarious at times, especially in managers meetings.
The special circumstances is having a group of directors who are utterly, utterly useless. If I told you some of things I know, you wouldn't believe me. In the private sector they would be sacked, but in the public sector, where we get government funding (taxpayers money) they can get away with it.
I've seen countless projects over the years where we have lied and wasted literally millions and millions of pounds.
Believe it or not, the root cause is actually the lack of funding. This drives a business type mentally, headed up by people who have only ever known education.
Example, someone came up with the bright idea to create a giant engineering building in the middle of nowhere (literally no students for miles). They invested four million on expensive machinery only to close the whole thing down a few years later.......because of the lack of students. You'd think someone would have done a little market research before hand.
We have a saying "we never learn" which is quite something considering we do education.
It's got to the point where it's so bad, it's actually become funny. Last year we spent £15k on exam licenses for courses we don't teach. That was a beauty.
My dad worked for the prison service before he retired. He said that was just the same.