Thousands of health care professionals working for the NHS may be denied a Covid backlog bonus payment due to the way they are employed. Campaign groups said the Government's pay deal is "treating many thousands of staff unfairly" by not including those working for social enterprises, charities and other not-for-profit providers as eligible for a payment worth as much as £1,600.
They said there is a danger of creating a "two-tier" system among health sector staff if ministers do not rectify the situation, with close to 18,000 people backing a petition calling for the decision to be reviewed. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said independent providers of NHS services are "not eligible to receive funding for the non-consolidated awards" included in the wage package, such as the one-off bonus payment.
Part of the deal struck between ministers and health unions in May saw eligible staff on the Agenda for Change contract - which includes nurses, paramedics, 999 call handlers, midwives, security guards and cleaners - receive a 5% pay rise, backdated to April. As part of the same deal, those eligible have also begun receiving a one-off payment for last year and a so-called NHS backlog bonus for this year, worth between £1,250 and £1,600 depending on an employee's pay band.
