DON’T PUT A CAP ON NHS RISE

» Rayner urges real-terms hike » Staffing crisis risk if pay is cut

NHS pay rises must not be capped if hospitals are to avoid losing thousands of staff, Labour warns.

Pressure piled on Boris Johnson to U-turn on the planned 1% increase – a real-terms cut for medics who have served through the pandemic.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said even the 2.1% staff were expecting this year, and which the NHS budgeted for before ministers reneged on it, is a “small amount”.

She added: “The honest way of approaching this is not to put a ceiling on it. We should go in with the expectation that there is a significant realterms increase for those NHS workers.”

Dismissing plans for a one-off bonus, believed to be under discussion by ministers, she said: “It’s like saying ‘we’ll give you a medal’. A medal isn’t going to pay the bills.

“They don’t want extra, they just want to be paid what they’re worth.

“NHS staff initially felt honoured by the NHS claps, but as time went on and nothing materialised they felt demoralised. If they’re having to go to a foodbank or are struggling to pay the rent then that’s not going to cut it.“

She went further than leader Keir Starmer, who has said the 2.1% should be a “starting point”.

In an interview with the Mirror, she said that while health unions did not want to strike over pay, she would back them if they were forced to do so. The Royal College of Nursing has called for a 12.5% rise and, unusually, threatened strike action over the issue.

Mr Starmer has previously refused to be drawn over whether Labour would back strike action in hospitals. Ms Rayner insisted the RCN, a moderate union, was “desperate” to enter pay negotiations in good faith and avoid industrial action.

But she added: “If they’re forced into it because the Government have failed to even negotiate with them then that’s a really sad day.

“I would support any of the unions and their members in their right to take industrial action. If we do end up there, then it will have been the Government that led us there.”

NHS England boss Sir Simon Stevens confirmed last week that ministers had planned to give NHS staff a 2.1% rise but had cut it to 1%.

The Prime Minister has claimed any more than 1% would not be affordable. But Ms Rayner warned that with 100,000 vacancies already, any savings could cost the NHS dearly.

She added: “The least we can do is give them a pay rise, and if we don’t and we lose more NHS staff then actually it will cost us more. It’s not a question of we can’t afford to give them a decent pay rise. We can’t afford not to.”

She urged ministers to publish a

We can’t afford to give them a decent pay rise? We can’t afford not to

ANGELA RAYNER URGES A RETHINK ON 1% NHS PAY CAP

multi-year pay deal for all NHS staff or risk a staffing crisis.

Labour plans to force a vote on the issue in the coming weeks, with an amendment to the Queen’s Speech expected in May. MP Carolyn Harris will use a backbench bill next month to put the matter to a vote.

Former care worker Ms Rayner was also “incredibly frustrated” by the Government’s failure to address the social care crisis despite repeated promises. She said proper funding of community care could help prevent the elderly and vulnerable going into hospital in the first place. Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget failed to mention social care. He also failed to inject cash into the system, which experts say needs an immediate input of £1billion.

NATIONAL Health Service staff deserve pay rises above Boris Johnson’s insulting 1% and the only question is how much.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner, once a low-paid care worker, speaks for the majority after the NHS workforce put their lives on the line to save lives during the ongoing pandemic.

Until the Prime Minister puts his hand in his pocket after he thanked those who saved his own life, Johnson will be accused of hypocrisy.