The government announced today NHS nurses will be given a £1,400 pay rise, which represents a less than inflation increase for the vast majority of staff. Tory ministers accepted the recommendations of a review body which said more than a million staff should get the permanent rise backdated to April 2022.
The figure represents a 9.3% for porters and cleaners, the government has claimed. However by comparison the average basic pay for nurses will rise by around 4% from around £35,600 to around £37,000, the government said, reports the Mirror.
The offer has been slammed by unions. UNISON’s Sara Gorton said: "This is nowhere near what’s needed to save the NHS."
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She said "demoralised and depleted health workers" will be "seriously considering industrial action after this pitiful increase and a majority of the public will be behind them."
The award represented "a kick in the teeth", according to Unite general secretary Sharon Graham who said: "The so-called wage offer amounts to a massive national pay cut. We expected the inevitable betrayal but the scale of it is an affront."
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: "The government has made a big mistake. This short-sighted decision risks harming the UK's most cherished institution beyond repair."
She warned: "Fed-up staff might well now decide to take the matter into their own hands. If there is to be a dispute in the NHS, ministers will have no one to blame but themselves."
The basic pay for newly qualified nurses will increase by 5.5%, from £25,655 last year to £27,055, the government said. The government said they will be “the highest uplifts in nearly 20 years, reflecting the vital contributions public sector workers make to the country and the cost of living pressures facing households."
But inflation is running at its highest in about 40 years at 9.1% - meaning the rises are a real-terms pay cut and follow more than decade of below inflation pay rises.
The rise covers Agenda for Change staff including nurses, paramedics, midwives, allied health professionals, admin, and porters. The £1,400 flat cash rise will be "enhanced" for the top of Band 6 and Band 7 so it is equal to a 4% rise.
Meanwhile dentists and doctors will receive a 4.5% pay rise, the government said. It comes hours after official figures showed Brits’ real wages have plummeted by the worst rate on record as the cost-of-living crisis hammers the nation.
Regular pay, without bonuses, grew 4.3% in the year to March-May 2022. But once adjusted for soaring inflation, regular pay fell by 2.8% - the steepest drop since records began in 2000. It inched past the previous record fall of 2.7% in September 2011 - and the worst is yet to come.
CPI inflation hit a 40-year record of 9.1% in May and is expected to reach as high as 11% later this year. Below inflation pay rises will be announced today for more than 2.2million public sector workers. Tory leadership candidates have all dismissed calls for higher pay rises.
Stephen Evans, Chief Executive of Learning and Work Institute, said: "The cost of living crisis is laid bare." He added: "With energy set to rocket further in the autumn, this must be top of the new Prime Minister's in-tray.
"But the crisis is being felt unevenly with larger pay rises in sectors like finance, up 6.2%, while the public sector saw the lowest pay rises, at 1.9% - much lower than inflation. This highlights the need for action to tackle recruitment and retention challenges in our public services."
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