Doctors and nurses may join wave of strikes

Medics balk at 9.3pc offer during cost of living crisis, as NHS warns any rise will come out of care budget

‘No doctor wants this, but the Government sadly moves us much closer to this being a reality’

‘Given this very poor pay proposal, we will look towards consulting our members in the autumn’

DOCTORS and nurses threatened a wave of strikes last night over pay rises of up to 9.3 per cent – amid warnings the increases will be funded by money earmarked for NHS care.

Ministers yesterday accepted the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies in full, saying the rise was needed to help with the cost of living crisis. But public sector unions reacted with fury, saying the increases were a real-terms pay cut as inflation was running at 11.7 per cent.

NHS England warned that the pay rises will have to be funded by cutting back on plans to extend diagnostic capacity to end Covid backlogs.

This is because the Treasury has refused to fund NHS pay rises higher than 3 per cent – saying the money will have to come out of existing health budgets. Experts say cuts of £1.8billion may have to be found.

Meanwhile, teaching unions also expressed their anger at a pay award of as much as 8.9 per cent more a year.

Under yesterday’s announcement, more than one million NHS staff such as nurses, paramedics and midwives will be given an extra £1,400 next year.

This works out at 4 per cent on average, but for the lowest paid, such as porters and cleaners, it will be equivalent to a 9.3 per cent rise. Separately, eligible dentists and doctors will receive a 4.5 per cent uplift in 2022-23.

But junior doctors will not be included, as they agreed a multiyear pay deal a few years ago – a decision that sparked a warning of industrial action by the British Medical Association.

Dr Sarah Hallett and Dr Mike Kemp, the junior doctors’ committee co-chairmen, said: “No doctor wants this, but the Government’s tone-deaf announcement sadly moves us much closer to this being a reality, and we will now be taking concrete actions towards this end.”

Other unions delivered similar warnings. Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Our members will vote and tell us what they want to do. We are grateful for growing support, including over strike action.”

Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, said: “We want a fair deal for staff. Very high inflation-driven settlements would have a worse impact on pay packets in the long run than proportionate and balanced increases now, and it is welcome that the pay review bodies agree with this approach.”

But an NHS England spokesman said: “Given the requirement to fund this within existing Department of Health budgets, we will need to release money from existing programmes, regrettably impacting on the planned rollout of tech and diagnostic capacity.”

James Cleverly, the Education Secretary, said teachers’ starting salaries would be increased by 8.9 per cent to £28,000. Experienced teachers will receive 5 per cent – the highest in 30 years, and much higher than the government’s original proposal of 3 per cent. The rise is equivalent to an increase of almost £2,100 on the average salary of £42,400 this year.

But Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Given this very poor pay proposal, we will look towards consulting our members in the autumn.”

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said all police officers in England and Wales will receive a consolidated award of £1,900.

This is equivalent to 5 per cent, and will be targeted at those on the lowest salaries to provide them with an uplift of up to 8.8 per cent, and between 0.6 and 1.8 per cent for the better-paid.

Yesterday, more than 115,000 Royal Mail workers overwhelmingly voted for industrial action, marking the biggest strike of the “summer of discontent”.