Council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will have their pay frozen for a third consecutive year.
The Local Government Association confirmed a pay freeze for 1.6 million local government employees for 2012/13.
The freeze had been widely anticipated by councils but the GMB union said it was a "deliberate political choice" aimed at keeping council tax down.
The LGA said councils were left with little choice due to rising costs and shrinking local government funding.
Spokesman Sarah Messenger said it had been "a very difficult decision to make but it is the right one for council taxpayers and the workforce as a whole".
"Increasing pay would mean more job losses and cuts to the services people need," she said.
"While the financial outlook for councils is bleak, we are keen to begin discussions with the unions on a package of reform of pay and conditions that may enable us to avoid a fourth year of pay freeze in 2013."
Lowest paidThe chancellor announced in November that a wider public sector pay freeze, due to end in 2013, would be followed by a 1% cap on rises for the following two years.
But local government pay is negotiated separately between employers and unions, via the National Joint Council for local government services. Teachers' and firefighters' pay is covered by separate national pay arrangements.
Unison, the GMB and Unite had asked for a pay increase - particularly for the lowest paid workers.
GMB national officer Brian Strutton said there could be industrial action over the issue, if employers did not go to arbitration.
He said: "The politicians who lead local councils are a disgrace to the workforces they employ for offering no pay rise for the third consecutive year while feathering their own nests.
"Council leaders' pay has shot up and councillors vote themselves higher allowances while the carers, dinner ladies, dustmen, social workers, school support staff and all the other council workers serving their communities will have seen their pay fall in real terms by over 15%."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-politics-17141621
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