NHS workers were originally set for 2.1 per cent pay rise, says chief executive
NHS staff were originally in line to receive a 2.1 per cent pay rise before the pandemic, the health body’s chief executive has said.
The government sparked widespread outrage last week after ministers announced health workers were set to receive a 1 per cent pay rise this year. Labour said the annual increase amounted to a pay cut once inflation has been taken into account.
Speaking at the Commons’ health committee this morning, NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens confirmed the NHS long term plan would have seen more than a million NHS staff given a 2.1 per cent pay rise from April.
However, he added that “things have changed” since the start of the pandemic, and that the government can no longer afford to hand out higher pay rises.
Stevens told MPs he wanted workers to receive a “proper reward” for their efforts, adding that he could “see the attraction” of a one-off bonus.
The Prime Minister has defended the 1 per cent rise for NHS staff, insisting that it is the limit that the government can afford “at the present time”.
But shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth slammed the increase as “morally obnoxious”, warning that it would “exacerbate the under-staffing issues we have in the NHS”.
“The head of the NHS has confirmed what we already knew — the Conservatives have broken their promise to the NHS and are cutting nurses’ pay,” Ashworth told an audience at the IPPR think tank.
Nurses have described it as “insulting”, while unions have threatened strike action over “pitiful” pay rises.
Ministers will make their final decision over the proposed pay rise in May, after an independent panel has made its own pay recommendations for the next financial year.
Speaking in the Commons this morning, chancellor Rishi Sunak paid tribute to “all those working on the frontline of our NHS and other public services”, adding that the government had “exempted” the NHS from the public sector pay freeze.