Posted 06 July 2017 - 11:00
Posted 06 July 2017 - 11:00
News
Government confirms pay cap will remain
Chief secretary to the treasury says retaining 1% public sector pay cap is the ‘responsible thing to do’ to balance recruitment with sustainability.
The chief secretary to the treasury has confirmed the 1% cap on nurse pay will remain in place because it is the ‘responsible thing to do’.
Conservative minister Liz Truss was speaking during a public sector pay debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday, raised by shadow health secretary John McDonnell.
‘Responsible thing to do’
She said maintaining the 1% public sector pay cap was the responsible thing to do to ensure recruitment and rentention was balanced with sustainability.
Many Conservative MPs echoed her comment, including former chancellor Kenneth Clarke, who said lifting the cap could lead to ‘economic disaster’.
However, fellow backbench Conservative John Redwood said better public sector pay would lead to greater productivity and the taxpayer would win overall.
Cancer nurse and Conservative MP Maria Caulfield repeated her belief that the Agenda for Change increments system needed to be overhauled to prevent hospitals from ‘downgrading’ staff.
Liberal Democrat leadership candidate Sir Vince Cable said raising pay would reflect ‘economic reality’.
The debate followed Prime Minister’s Questions, where Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn raised the issue of NHS staff pay.
Pay figures
Ms May responded by saying that when making decisions on pay the government ‘will always recognise that we must ensure we take decisions with regard to the need to live within our means’.
She added: ‘People may not realise that there is not only the overall public sector pay increase, but, for many nurses, increments or progression pay as well. A typical band 5 nurse will receive 3.8% over and above the 1%.’
However, government figures released on Monday show the median pay for nurses had fallen by almost £1 an hour between 2010 and 2015.
At the weekend, senior ministers including Michael Gove and Boris Johnson spoke out against the cap.
The Commons debate came ahead of nurses delivering a ‘magic money tree’ to the Department of Health in London, in reference to Ms May’s comments during the general election campaign.
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