Unions in warning on pay rise ‘insult’ for NHS staff
THE Government has been warned that a long-awaited pay rise for NHS staff will be an “insult” if it is only a slight increase on the one per cent which the Prime Minister has said is all that can be afforded.
Health unions are stepping up pressure for an end to the delay in giving nurses and other staff a wage increase amid speculation that an announcement could be made by Ministers within the next few days, possibly of a three per cent increase.
The Government sparked anger after it announced earlier this year that it could afford only a one per cent increase despite the extraordinary efforts of NHS staff to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The NHS Pay Review Body made its recommendation weeks ago, leaving unions to question why a pay rise is still being delayed.
A Royal College of Nursing spokesman said: “Health Secretary Sajid Javid has a historic opportunity to show the Government values NHS staff and knows the importance of this pay rise to improving patient care.
“Nursing pay has fallen significantly in the last decade – by 15 per cent in real terms. If the Government is serious about filling the tens of thousands of vacant nurse jobs then a significant pay rise is needed.
“It is as crucial to NHS recovery in the coming years as any other piece of investment. Low-level awards of a couple of per cent would look timid and insult staff when the challenges they face have never been greater.”
The Unite union said a three per cent pay rise would be a “small step forward” on the “insulting” one per cent increase the Government offered in March.
Unite’s national officer for
health, Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, said: “The Government needs to be much more generous than the anticipated Pay Review Body’s recommendation – the public will expect it to be.
“Health trade unions have been calling for an early and significant pay rise for more than a year, this announcement is too little and too late.”
Campaigners will hand in a petition to Downing Street tomorrow, which has been signed by 800,000 people, calling for a 15 per cent pay rise for NHS workers.
Unison’s head of health, Sara Gorton, said: “It’s in Boris Johnson’s gift to grant staff a fair deal. Yet he’s still making them wait.
“It’s 320 days since Unison wrote to Boris Johnson asking for a £2,000 increase for every NHS worker, but health workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland still don’t know what they’ll get nearly 11 months on.”