AIBU to think a potential 2% pay rise for the NHS staff is ridiculous?

That really is excellent and a real benefit of working in the NHS. That more than my pension is forecast to be, and I’ll have to work 40 years to reach that. I work in the private sector in a job that requires a lot of qualifications, less sick pay and less annual leave than the NHS. The lowest band NHS has a pension equivalent of a £50k salary in the private sector. That makes the pay so much better than Asda or equivalent.

Efficiencies! After 14 years of Tory austerity and cuts, do you think there’s anything left? Look around: CAMHS waiting lists for children months long, referrals rejected (is that an efficiency?), hospital w/l years long. Its not a few poor people wanting paracetamol freebies.

Benefits went up 6.7% according toto Google? No way we should then accept 2% and be made to wait months for it!

Security, and pension are the obvious reasons. Decent holiday allowance. A union.

Working in the private sector I've been made redundant 7 times in 38 years, once on my first morning back after maternity leave (because I had dared to take maternity leave). Then had to fight a tribunal case for a year while unemployed.

Despite working full time in the same grade role I still get paid less than I did before I had ds and he's now 15. That's the IT sector for you.

It shouldn't be a race to the bottom, and pay rises should at least keep up with inflation. But the security of the NHS is a real plus.

I was looking into moving into the NHS from my local authority however, the pension contribution in the NHS are ridiculously high (nearly 10%) at the band I would be on. Pay is also shockingly poor, and the structure of going up pay scales takes so much longer. In my local authority, you go up automatically each year unless you go up a pay grade.

It really made me doubt applying for the role.

Here is a good graphic. So this assumes a pension of £13k per year after 20 years service, starting at £18k salary. But interestingly assumes the salary goes up by 4% each year, which is unlikely!

2% doesn’t recognise the problems of retaining staff in the NHS. At the same time it is unaffordable for the taxpayer.

The answer seems to me, after a lifetime in the private sector, to make efficiencies within the NHS to be able to afford a better pay rise for the staff. Asking the tax payer for more funding with the current levels of waste and financial mismanagement is offensive.

My pet peeve, prescribing ibuprofen and paracetamol which can be bought OTC for 30p a box. If the NHS has to prescribe it at all, it would be cheaper to give them a petty cash box to give the patient a quid to buy their own.

@RosaRoja It's definitely not correct, as the pension is revalued at a small % each year, but I don't know enough about that to calculate. So that figure is lower than it would be in reality I'm sure.

But - most people take a tax free lump sum which will reduce the annual amount, and I'm sure there are plenty of band 2s who just can't afford to pay the £120 a month to pay into the pension. That's a huge amount when your take home pay isn't enough to cover rent and council tax for a terraced 3 bed (where I live, at least, which is a deprived area)

i believe the nhs pension has changed,
not as good as it was in the past.

pretty sure there isnt a band 1 @LauraNorda
i guess that would be below minimum wage

why do you say you are band 1?

They need the appropriate qualifications to move from a band 2 to a band 3 post.

@Sunflowers68 exactly. That’s what unions are for. After 14 years of Tories you still need them more than ever.

Our team literally would not function (and therefore patient care would greatly suffer) if it wasn’t for our highly skilled administrator who earns 1p above minimum wage. It’s a travesty. I like my job and I’m paid the most I’ve ever earned (I’m a band 6, before I did my nurse training I worked on the tills in Asda) but does the wage in anyway reflect the level of skill, training and responsibility I hold? Absolutely not

If your calculations are correct, that gold plated NHS pension that is the envy of all doesn’t sound that great, given all the years you’ve put in. Never mind if you work part-time around kids etc.

Unless you are a consultant. Then they can find the money for a 20% rise.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68735677.amp

PP mentioned consultants getting 20% rises. Can we not pit one group against another? The strikes took a toll on everyone. The nurses backed down at 5%. It’s not a race to the bottom. The NHS is haemorrhaging staff as it is.

Don’t ask me where the money comes from. I’m not Liz Truss to be deluded enough to think I have the answers.

Unfortunately, the government finances are in the toilet and all public sector workers are going to get below inflation pay rises for a fair few years in an attempt to get the situation under control. Benefits and pensions will be the same.

The alternative is a run on uk government debt and massive cuts to all public services and benefits.

Yes it's ridiculous. My bills went up this month but am still waiting on a decision for our potential offer. It's so wrong and makes me cross.
It's been done deliberately and makes me wander if I should go and work privately in one of our contractor roles

For those asking about pension. A very simplified calculation:

A band 2 salary (once you've been in post for 2 years) is currently £22,383

You would pay 6.5% pension, roughly £120 a month (£1450 per year), with a take home pay of £1,550 per month assuming no student loans etc

You earn 1/54th of your pensionable salary per year, so each year £414 is added to your 'pot'. If you stay working at a band 2 for 30 years full time, your pension each year assuming no lump sum taken and not accounting for inflation or revaluation etc would be roughly £12,400 per year

Just as a check (I'm not wanting to turn this into private v public sector thread!), but my annual review was 'exceeding exoectations' so have been rewarded the maximum pay rise in my private sector job - 3%

There's no union and not many of the other public sector 'perks'.

Not saying its better/worse but there can be an assumption on these threads that private sector are racking in huge payrises!!

It's horrendous. I know young people on band 4 who love their jobs, do them well but are probably going to leave the NHS as they haven't a hope in hell of being able to buy a property.

I think that we are watching this Government deliberately pushing the NHS into the ground so that in the end when it's dismantled no one will actually care 😔

@Sunflowers68 band 2 get rises til you get to the top of the band - they are able to apply for a 3 if a position comes up. Same as a band 5 nurse can go to the top of their band through experience they can't progress further unless a job at a higher band becomes vacant and they apply and are successful......

Our receptionist is the most essential person on the ward. She is sort so much more than a band 2.