The politics of pay
Here’s how much a nurse’s salary has increased over the years, compared with an MP’s
NURSES’ wages have risen by less than £1,000 in the past seven years, leaving staff “struggling to pay bills and put food on the table”.
A newlyqualified nurse in England and Wales earned £22,128 in 2017/18.
That is just £952 more than the £21,176 they would have received in 2010/11, according to NHS figures. Nurses’ salaries are set by government departments - alongside teachers, police officers, and other NHS staff - because they are public sector jobs. But public sector pay increases were capped at one per cent between 2013 and 2017 - below the rate of inflation. It means that, in real terms, a nurse’s salary is worth less than it was at the start of the decade.
Backbench MPs, on the other hand, have seen salary increases of more than £10,000 in the same period.
In the year to 2017/18, an MP earned £76,011 - an increase of £10,273 from the amount they would have been paid in 2010/11.
Those working in public sector jobs - such as nurses, teachers, police and firefighters - have long challenged the government over the pay cap.
Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “For too long, nursing staff have struggled to pay bills and put food on the table - they need a meaningful pay rise this year. Nurses will not put up with more year-on-year pay erosion.”
This month nurses will receive a pay rise of three per cent, bringing salaries to £22,792.
They will also receive a 1.7 per cent pay rise in April 2019 and a further 1.1 per cent rise in April 2010.
MPs have also been given a pay rise of 1.8 per cent this month. In real numbers that brings their salary to £77,739.
MPs’ salaries are decided and published by the Independent Standards Authority (IPSA), which was established largely in response to the 2009 expenses scandal. A spokesperson for HM Treasury said: “The pay cap helped to protect public sector jobs as we continue to reduce the UK’s deficit, but we have confirmed that the across-theboard 1% cap will no longer apply. “We have acted to help people with their living costs, including cutting taxes and introducing the National Living Wage.”