A construction worker walks past a poster in London, Britain, December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

LONDON (Reuters) - Average pay rises awarded by British employers grew more quickly in the three months to August after a short slowdown, according to a survey published on Thursday.

The median pay award increase returned to an annual 2.5 percent, in line with the 12-month average, from 2.3 percent in the three months to July, wage data firm XpertHR said.

“This follows seven years where pay awards hovered around the 2 percent mark,” XpertHR said.

The Bank of England is watching wages closely after it said domestic inflation pressures were likely to require further increases in borrowing costs, even as Britain’s economy grows only slowly ahead of Brexit.

XpertHR - which collects details of pay settlements for around 1,600 employee groups each year - said it sampled 91 pay awards in the three months to the end of August covering almost 1.4 million employees.

The 2.5 percent increase roughly matched inflation over the three months to August, as measured by the consumer price index. Many households have seen their spending power eroded over the past decade by inflation rising more quickly than their pay.