Hancock firm on NHS one per cent pay rise despite nurse and union pressure
The Health Secretary tonight pushed back against the growing dissent over the one per cent pay rise for NHS staff, despite unions threatening strike action over the ‘pitiful’ figures.
Matt Hancock argued at the Downing Street briefing the pay rise reflected the current poor state of the UK’s finances.
“One of the challenges we’ve faced as a country is in terms of the financial consequences of the pandemic.
“We’ve proposed what we think is affordable to make sure in the NHS people do get a pay rise,” Hancock added.
The Royal College of Nursing called the figure ‘pitiful’ and has suggested its members deserve a 12.5 per cent rise instead.
The union Unite has said it is preparing for strike action in response to the plans.
In a battle which could see the nurses who worked throughout the Covid-19 pandemic becoming piggy in the middle, the government has been warned that if inflation rises, workers could actually see a pay cut in real terms.
A government spokesperson disputed this, arguing that the one percent was a “real-terms increase”, as the latest official inflation figure was 0.9 per cent.
Under Budget plans, staff in the NHS will be the only public sector workers to receive a pay rise as others will have their salaries frozen.
Close to 1.3m public sector workers will see a pay freeze next year, with those earning less than £24,000 guaranteed a pay rise of at least £250.
Currently, the average starting salary for a Nurse is £24,907.
However, Len Shackleton at The Institute for Economic Affairs disputed the Royal College of Nursing’s 12.5 per cent demand, calling it extraordinary and not feasible.
“They can’t all be paid 12.5 per cent increases unless we want to go back to a world of double-digit inflation, which took us far too long to exit the last time round.
“What we need is an end to this sort of across-the-board increase to NHS pay, and more targeted pay increases for those who have contributed most in the last year,” he added.