Posted 16 November 2022 - 09:00
Posted 16 November 2022 - 09:00
News
Nurses face real pay cut of at least £1,500 in 2023-24, says TUC
Prime minister Rishi Sunak told to stick to pledge to fund services and drop plans for mere 2% rise next year to avoid ‘unsustainable pay misery’ for nurses
Prime minister Rishi Sunak told to stick to pledge to fund services and drop plans for mere 2% rise next year to avoid ‘unsustainable pay misery’ for nurses
Nurses will experience a real-terms pay cut of at least £1,500 in the next financial year if the government pushes ahead with plans for a 2% pay rise.
More pay misery for nurses is unsustainable, says TUC
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) claims the government is choosing to make nurses poorer and another year of ‘pay misery’ for them is ‘unsustainable.’
It comes as prime minister Rishi Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt indicated that public sector workers would see an increase in pay of just 2% in 2023-24, as the UK heads into a recession.
The TUC is warning that huge damage will be done to public services and key workers’ livelihoods if Mr Sunak does not keep his pledge to parliament to fund world-class public services.
‘Ministers should be giving public servants the fair pay rise they have earned – not driving them towards food banks, said TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady.
‘But this is a government that is choosing to make nurses poorer as its lifts the cap on bankers’ bonuses. The Conservatives only have themselves to blame if there are large-scale strikes this winter. They have pushed our pandemic heroes to the brink.’
New analysis by the TUC shows that nurses and front-line staff will see the value of their pay packets shrink again if the government imposes a 2% settlement for 2023/24.
What a 2% pay rise in 2023-24 looks like in real terms
Loss of real-terms earnings (adjusted for inflation) in 2023-24 if pay goes up 2%:
- Band 5 nurses’ real pay will be down by £1,531
- Band 6 nurse specialists could see a cut of £1,887
- Band 7 nurses could see a cut of £2,217
- Hospital porters’ real pay will be down by £1,000
- Maternity care assistants’ real pay will be down by £1,200
- Paramedics’ and midwives’ real pay will be down by nearly £1,900
Source: TUC analysis
Stagnant wages have fuelled staff shortages and sparked vote to strike
The union says stagnant wages have played a major role in the crippling staff shortages that NHS services are facing.
Last week the RCN announced its members have voted for strike action and nurses will stage the biggest ever walk out in its history. Strike dates are yet to be announced.
But health secretary Steve Barclay claims that nurses’ pay demands were neither ‘reasonable nor affordable,’ before he met with the RCN and other unions yesterday (Tuesday, 15 November).
The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.
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