UK grant is paying for bonus
Nicola Sturgeon’s £500 bonus for NHS workers is being funded from an emergency extra health grant provided by the UK Government to tackle Covid-19.
The First Minister unveiled the £180million pledge at the SNP’s virtual party conference in November but has faced a backlash.
While highly paid doctors and health service managers will pick up the bonus, thousands of low-paid frontline workers won’t receive a penny.
Former Labour MSP and GP Dr Richard Simpson asked where the cash was coming from and which services would be cut as a result.
The Sunday Mail can now reveal the money is coming from an emergency boost to Scotland’s Barnett Formula block grant from Westminster. In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Scottish Government admitted: “We have been provided with £8.2billion of Covid consequential support, which is allocated in Scotland according to need.
“The non-consolidated bonus has been funded from these consequentials via the overarching health allocation. Necessary funding is being made available to NHS boards.”
Refuse collectors, school cleaners and pupil support staff are among those who will not get a bonus, despite risking their lives in the pandemic.
Scottish Tory shadow health secretary Donald Cameron said: “Nicola Sturgeon tried to play politics with this payment and her stunt completely backfired.
“At long last, the Scottish Government have admitted our heroic NHS workers will be getting this money thanks to the UK Government’s huge increases in spending.”