- New 1% NHS pay offer is “a real terms pay cut” and “hammer blow to morale”, says union body
- All key workers deserve a decent pay rise, says TUC
The TUC has released new analysis which shows how major groups of NHS workers will be much worse off in real terms in 2021-22 than in 2010.
The analysis shows that following the government’s decision to offer NHS staff a pay rise of just 1% in 2021-22, nurses’ pay will be down as much as £2,500 in real terms compared to a decade ago.
The picture is bleak for many other NHS staff too:
- Porters’ pay will be down by up to £850
- Maternity care assistants’ pay will be down by up to £2,100
- Paramedics’ pay will be down by up to £3,330
Real terms pay loss since 2010
| Occupation | Pay 2010 | Pay 2010 in 20-21 prices (CPI) | Agenda for change 2020-21 pay | Pay 2021-22 (1% proposed increase) | Real terms pay loss 2010-2021 |
| Porters | £16,753 | £20,383 | £19,337 | £19,530 | -£852 |
| Medical secretaries | £18,577 | £22,602 | £21,142 | £21,353 | -£1,249 |
| Nursery Nurse | £21,798 | £26,521 | £24,157 | £24,399 | -£2,122 |
| Maternity Care Assistants | |||||
| Speech and Language Therapy Assistants | |||||
| Team coordinators | |||||
| Nurses | £27,534 | £33,500 | £30,615 | £30,921 | -£2,579 |
| Community nurses | |||||
| Radiographer Specialist | £34,189 | £41,597 | £37,890 | £38,269 | -£3,328 |
| Paramedic |
Source: TUC analysis of NHS Agenda for Change Pay scales
The TUC analysis also reveals that NHS workers across many occupations and pay bands will suffer a real-terms pay cut in 2021-22.
For example, an experienced nurse or midwife (NHS band 5) will a face an annual real-terms pay cut of up to £153 in 2021-22 as a result of the planned 1% increase.
Unions have described the latest pay offer to NHS workers as an insult to their hard work and dedication during the pandemic.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Our brilliant NHS workers have put their lives on their line to get Britain through this pandemic.
“It’s time we cared for them the way they have cared for us.
“That means giving them the decent pay rise they deserve – not a pathetic 1% increase. After years of real-terms pay cuts the government’s latest offer is a hammer blow to staff morale.
“This boils down to political choices. Ministers have chosen to spend hundreds of millions on outsourcing our failed test and trace system and on dodgy PPE contracts. But they have chosen not to find the money to give nurses, paramedics and other NHS workers fair pay.
“Boosting pay for NHS key workers will help our local businesses and high streets recover faster – because their customers will have more cash to spend. And that will help other workers get a pay rise too.”
BACKLASH
Four major unions – the BMA, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives and UNISON – have written an open letter to the Chancellor, expressing their dismay at the 1% pay offer made to health workers.
In the letter they ask him to reconsider the recommendation, made to the NHS pay review bodies yesterday, that NHS staff receive a 1% pay rise.
The letter goes on to say: “The proposal of a 1% pay offer, not announced from the despatch box but smuggled out quietly in the days afterwards, fails the test of both honesty and fails to provide staff who have been on the very frontline of the pandemic the fair pay deal they need.
“Our members are the doctors, nurses, midwives, porters, healthcare assistants and more, already exhausted and distressed, who are also expected to go on caring for the millions of patients on waiting lists, coping with a huge backlog of treatment as well as caring for those with COVID-19.”
The unions make clear that the Government should demonstrate that it recognises the contribution of the hundreds of thousands of workers who have literally kept the country alive for the past year and call upon the Chancellor to, “make the right choice”.
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