Yahoo Finance Nursing leaders slam proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff, describing it as ‘pitiful and bitterly disappointing’
A nurse administers a covid jab
(PA)A massive row has erupted over NHS pay after it was revealed the government is proposing a one per cent rise for exhausted staff in England in 2021-22.
The rise, disclosed in the government’s submission to a pay review body, was dismissed as “pitiful and bitterly disappointing” by the Royal College of Nursing on Thursday.
The submission says: “The government announced a pause in public sector pay rises for all workforces, with an exception for employees with basic full-time equivalent salaries of £24,000 or under and for the NHS.
“In settling the DHSC and NHS budget, the government assumed a headline pay award of 1% for NHS staff. Anything higher would require re-prioritisation ...
“The NHS budget is set for 2019/20 to 2023/24 and this budget includes money for planned workforce growth. This is why, as set out in our remit, there are trade-offs if money above affordability assumptions is spent on pay.”
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said a pay award “as poor as this” would mean only an extra £3.50 per week take home pay for an experienced nurse.
The RCN’s chief executive and general secretary, Dame Donna Kinnair, said: “This is pitiful and bitterly disappointing. The government is dangerously out of touch with nursing staff, NHS workers and the public.”
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