Pay rises for teachers and nurses to be hit by Ulez fees

TEACHERS and nurses in the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) expansion areas face having potential pay rises offset by the daily charge if their vehicles fail to meet emissions standards, analysis by The Daily Telegraph shows.

Teachers – set to go on strike on Feb 1 and 14 – and nurses are pushing for double-digit pay increases.

Analysis by The Telegraph with assistance from Milliken Consulting, Audit and Compliance, has found that an average full-time nurse in London, receiving £43,101 in pre-tax gross pay, will need to secure a pay increase of 10.3 per cent pay rise to cover extra Ulez costs.

This is based on a nurse paying the £12.50 daily charge, across five days a week, for 48 weeks of the year.

Teachers, who receive on average £45,312 in gross pay full-time in London, will need to receive a rise of 7.7 per cent to absorb the £2,375 Ulez fees.

Nick Rogers, the Conservative transport spokesman for the Greater London Authority, said that the Ulez expansion would hit nurses and key workers particularly badly as they work night shifts and could be hit twice by the charge.

Howard Cox, from Fair Fuel, said Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, was ignoring personal economic consequences by expanding Ulez to all 32 boroughs.

A spokesman for the mayor said: “Nurses and carers remain on the front line of the toxic air crisis. Not only is toxic air causing 4,000 premature deaths, it’s also expected to cost the NHS and social care system £10.4billion by 2050. It is staggering to see politicians suddenly concerned with the welfare of these front line workers who they have never previously supported.”