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

Hi not all band 2 are admin are clinical support too. I work as a band 2 in the NHS should have been a health care professional but due to health problems had to change direction. As someone in their early fifties to be now put back as a minimum wage earner is soul destroying and degrading and I feel this needs addressing by the government

Absolutely 100% agree with this. For starters I think they will string out public sector pay rises for as long as possible to leave it unresolved with possible strikes for when Labour take over.

I think the Torys will hold off from a summer election, have an autumn statement, knock another 2p off National Insurance and implement this, then call for an election leaving Labour in as much poop as possible.

Yes they do, anyone who can work ten years full time on busy hospital wards deserves a few days extra holiday in my opinion. But don't forget you can rarely have Xmas or new year off,or indeed the build up to either of those celebrations, this includes any other celebrations such as Eid, you have to work a proportion of bank holidays, along with shift work and covering short staffed wards constantly.

Ive looked at a couple.of private sector roles, one in healthcare, one in education. One offered just under 30 days annual leave but another offered 33 days. It can also be really hard to take all the annual leave, if service demand is high then you can be refused. Also I can't take annual leave in certain weeks such as Christmas unless there are exceptional circumstances

I completely disagree. The support workers on the mental health wards I've worked on do a difficult and skillful job, that most of the population couldn't do. The amount they are paid is an insult.

Thanks repiles, not big 4 but similar high pressure role. Just to point out most NHS employees don't take.ther full leave either . I was forced to.take , yes i do mean forced to take 2 days in March as I couldn't carry more than 10 days and to.tale 20 as a legal minimum. I already had extra from the year before that .....

You asked. I merely answered. 🤷‍♀️

I used to work in an industry where burnt out big 4 members would frequently move to. If you think anyone in big 4 actually takes their annual leave or that big 4 is a typical private sector employee I have a bridge to sell you.

The Big Four. It’s in recognition of the long hours, time spent away from home and generally having your life taken over. It’s cheaper than having your fee earners burn out.

What private firm offers 33 days annual leave plus bh for new starters??

Decent in my experience is 25 days plus bank holidays. Which is actually on par with what I get in public sector actually.

@usernother perhaps your husband needs to move jobs, yes we get 33 days plus BH. A private firm has just offered my 20 yr old graduate the same leave as me and other friends and family in industry get very similar if not more. I think it's your husband that's the odd one out

@innerdesign it's really not. I'm quoting my friend who works for the nhs who tells me that she gets 33 days plus bank holiday entitlement that can't always be taken on a bank holiday, but can be taken at another time. That means 41 days off a year. If I say it's 33 days compared to 20 or 41 compared to 28 it's still a massive difference. Don't you agree that nhs staff really generous leave? Even if I don't work there, I'm entitled to say that I think it's generous and staff are lucky to have it.

This is disingenuous. Your husband will get 20 days plus bank holidays, as that's the legal minimum in the UK. You've presented this post in a way that makes it look like there's even more of a difference. Yes NHS holiday allowance is generous, but as PP says we work a lot of public holidays, and it's borderline impossible to get time off over school holidays (especially if you don't have children), so swings and roundabouts.

@Sweetheart7 because he doesn't want to. My comment was about the fact that long term nhs staff get a very generous leave package. I was comparing it to my husband's leave package as a comparison.

No parent leave but we do get 5 days "carers leave" per year to take in an emergency such as a child being ill and not having anyone to look after them.

Also I agree the NHS isn't all that easy to get in to. A lot of roles will specify "NHS experience". Last time I was interviewing for a band 2 role (clinical, included weekends but not nights) we had over 40 applicants or more. The ones we interviewed, a lot of them were educated to degree level but wanted a "foot in" to the NHS.

Why doesn't your husband join NHS? I can't believe the misinformation on the thread despite people have touched upon the gruelling shift patterns and people have spoken upon the annual leave. NHS does not close on Bank Holidays the majority of staff have to work. Hospital wards do not just suddenly close. There is no paid parent leave either it's unpaid and it is not a given. NHS changed the rules and even the buying a week of extra annual leave isn't available to Band 2s any longer because it would bring their income under NMW.

@Moreorlessmentallystable there is no paid parental leave for NHS employees in England. It looks like in Scotland there is, which is great for them. But certainly not in England.

Firstly because I am no spring chicken, secondly because for what I do the NHS is too slow moving and I would probably be sitting at my desk poking pins in my eyes to relieve the boredom

People keep saying that private pay is far better than public, but my point is to get a better (albeit not guaranteed pension like the NHS) pension you have to give up more of this wonderful headline pay that public sector keep talking about being better in the private sector. I'm sorry if the comparison was not clear enough for you.

I get 33 days leave. I've been in the nhs 16 years now

My bad - it is 74.1% of organisations not of women, with no information on where pregnant women are more likely to be employed (though hopefully they are in the places that offer decent mat pay since so many exist now).

It does sound like the UK is slowly doing better at offering support, even if the childcare offer is deeply flawed (hours are term time only, nursery paid less than the cost so parents pay a top up, etc). I'm sorry to hear this was less common 10 years ago.

I've been told that NHS who have worked for over 10 years get 33 days annual leave plus bank holidays. That's a massive amount of annual leave. My husband gets 20 days.

Great explanation. I don't see how the NHS staff can't see this is a good perk....

I don't agree with you regarding the private sector having much better perks, or maybe they do in the medical sector nowadays, but I work for a "platinum investors in people organisation" and perks are pretty much non existent apart from a robust sick leave pay. I do agree with you that is disgraceful that NHS staff have to pay extortionate parking prices, this should not be allowed.

It’s before the child is 14 according to that screenshot. Which works out at just under 1.5 days per year. Hardly a recruitment incentive, is it?