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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that a pay freeze is actually a pay cut?

85 replies

AndyWarholsBanana · 14/03/2014 14:08

OK so technically it isn't but in real terms it is. DH and I are both nurses and haven't had a pay rise for 3 years and now Jeremy Cunt has announced that he's backtracking on awarding 1% this year to all nurses who aren't at the top of their incremental scale.
In the period since we last had a pay rise, our fuel bills have gone up about 30%, train fares have gone up about 15%, council tax has gone up, DS2's nursery fees went up 20% etc etc.
We have gone from feeling reasonably comfortable financially to really struggling.
I work in mental health and the cuts have been really savage. As well as making me angry for patients, my job has become more difficult as I'm struggling to manage a huge caseload. So I'm working harder than I've ever done for effectively less money.
I'm so fucking angry.

OP posts:

bruffin · 14/03/2014 15:38

I work in private sector, I have had one pay rise in 6 years and that was because we were moving offices and it didnt even cover my new train fares. I had to take a lesser paying job because i was made redundant.
Dh also had to take a wage drop when he was made redundant, and in previous job had not had a wage rise for two years. We have been going backwards for the last 10 years.

You do your degree and pay through the nose for it.

arent nursing degrees funded by the NHS

bruffin · 14/03/2014 15:41

I did get to the top of my pay scale one year in a non for profit sector and the rise i got a month didnt cover the daily rise in my train fare. My train fare went up 30% and my wages rise was £2 a month
This was under the last government

NurseyWursey · 14/03/2014 15:53

^Don't forget those in the NHS also have v generous holiday allocations - a friend has 33 days leave a year plus bank holidays.

Makes a mockery of my 20 days and 8 bank holidays^

Well if it's that good why did you leave the NHS then?

To be perfectly honest since we're taking care of the people of this country I think we deserve to have one benefit don't you?

And your friend only gets 33 days off because she has 10 years service - don't you think she deserves that too?

90sthrowback · 14/03/2014 16:04

Not in nursing, but yes the same here for DH - 6 years of a pay freeze, so much so that I'm increasing my hours to plug the shortfall.

BillyBanter · 14/03/2014 16:06

Anything less than inflation is a pay cut, yes.

MajorGrinch · 14/03/2014 16:09

Private sector here & have actually had a pay rise for the first time in many years. Not enough to cover the other rises in costs, but better than nothing.

I've been very envious of the public sector and their pay rises for a few years now....

KonkeyDong · 14/03/2014 16:09

Ha! So much self righteousness there nursey

Who's says I don't still work on behalf of the public sector doing as equally sanctimonious role? As I said my role my was destroyed by Andrew Lansleys reorganisation and sent out to the private sector, I could have hung about looking for a redeployment - instead I used my speciality training to go into the private sector to do a similar position at a lesser salary with less benefits.

That holier than thou attitude is a pile of shite which some public sector workers trot out regularly - what with being busy saving or working for the public.....

We all work hard, and all deserve fair increases in line with inflation. Just because you actually have an NHS (or whatever) contract you deserve it more?

JenBehavingBadly · 14/03/2014 16:11

I've just got a whopping 1% raise as well. In the last 5 years, I've had 3 years with no raise at all and then 1% for the last two while everything else has been going up.

NurseyWursey · 14/03/2014 16:12

Not only that we have to pay to even have the privilege of working.

Our registration fees rose from £76 to £100 a year.

Now there's talks of a rise to £120.

Even a 1% pay rise would be peeing in the wind with inflation.

The thing is the government were advised of what the pay rise should be by the pay review bpdy. They chose to ignore it and basically told them to not bother with their recommendations next year. What is the point of having these. What's the point of this body then??

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26556047 look at the graph on there. It's rather telling if you look at the years too.

Viviennemary · 14/03/2014 16:12

It is difficult. But it would be easier to argue that pay freezes have to be accepted if it wasn't for the bankers bonuses. How come they are written in stone and they couldn't do anything about it but yet they can change other people's terms.

NurseyWursey · 14/03/2014 16:14

konkey That is YOUR choice to work in the private sector. If you're not happy, then complain to YOUR boss. The thing about us is we are controlled by the government. We can't just request a meeting and say 'oh well I think because of x and X I deserve X%'

NurseyWursey · 14/03/2014 16:15

and no-one says we deserve it more. No-one said that. But you seem to think we deserve it less? This topic is about recent news regarding the NHS, not the private sector.

expatinscotland · 14/03/2014 16:15

But the MPs will get an 11% pay rise.

Fuckers.

NurseyWursey · 14/03/2014 16:16

Exactly expat Funny how they listened to the Pay Review Body when it benefited them.

EthelredOnAGoodDay · 14/03/2014 16:17

I work in the public sector in an officer level role (requires several years industry experience, plus post grad quals) and as well as having a real term pay cut, I have also had an actual pay cut due to us being made to take two days unpaid leave at Xmas. I have been at the top of my band as it's a pretty narrow scale, for a few years now.
On the other hand my privately employed DH has had a rise every year and gets better holidays and a similar pension to me. The same applies for the majority of our friends who are employed in professional jobs in the private sector. I appreciate that not everyone in the private sector is getting a rise, but it's not fair to say that the public sector are getting a better deal overall. Not all private sector employees are on pay freezes and conditions that are inferior to those in the public sector...

AdventColander · 14/03/2014 16:18

Yes, lack of a pay rise is a pay cut because the cost of living goes up and up every year. But because it's an employer's job market - too many people chasing too few jobs - employers can get away with it.
I should be grateful I suppose that I've still got a job - but it's the third year for me now with frozen pay (private sector) and I'm fed up of it. I didn't think the pay freeze would go on so long. YANBU.

BreconBeBuggered · 14/03/2014 16:23

Of course a freeze amounts to a cut where prices are going up. But can we not succumb to the private vs public sector debate? Workers are being shafted all over the place. It's as if nobody's ever heard of 'divide and conquer'.

Flossiechops · 14/03/2014 17:14

Threads like this always end up in public sector vrs private sector arguments which is a shame. I have only ever worked for the NHS as a nurse and can hand on heart say that I am not bothered about a pay rise (even though I don't earn a massive amount). I would much rather the paltry 1% be kept towards providing better care to NHS patients and improving staffing levels, this in turn would make our working lives much better - 1% is such a shit rise it's not even worth the bother.

ender · 14/03/2014 17:26

On R4 yesterday politician defending the pay freeze said it hadn't caused problems with staff recruitment in the NHS. Implied that freeze will continue as long as they're able to recruit staff.
I wonder how bad it'd have to get before people start leaving, and where could they go?

ginmakesitallok · 14/03/2014 17:32

Oh, and 33 days holidays is after 10 years service, not automatic.

ginmakesitallok · 14/03/2014 17:35

Budgets don't get increased to meet the past rises, NHS will have to find the money from elsewhere. I only manage a small team, but the pay rise means my budget will her overspent next years by around £3000, I'll be expected to find it somewhere, don't know where unless someone leaves and we don't replace all their hours.

kungfupannda · 14/03/2014 17:39

I've just found out I'm looking at a 10% pay cut plus losing 1/4 of my holiday entitlement, courtesy of the knock-on effect of the government's ongoing attempt to decimate the legal aid system.

This will leave me barely clearing the childcare and I'm questioning whether it's time to give up on law altogether and try and find something else.

Theincidental · 14/03/2014 17:41

FFS!

I think the private sector should treat their employees with the same standards as public service. It's not generous or a perk, but actually a reasonable and responsible level of holiday, pension etc.

I think it's shit public sector have been taking pay cuts (freezes) for years now. OP you are right, it is very unreasonable for the government to persist with this bollocks whilst systematically dismantling the welfare state and privatising services that never ever should hinge on being profit making (e.g tax credits provisions, education, health, social care)

Tony Benn died today and I feel just so angry that we've lost yet another powerful voice for socialism in this country.

Sorry, rant over, but I am so cross about how muh of a crap deal our public services are getting, especially people and families.

agedknees · 14/03/2014 17:43

I agree with Flossie. I would rather have better staffing and be able to have a break on my shift then have a 1 % pay rise.

Are the blood suckers (MP's) still getting their 11%?

RedFocus · 14/03/2014 17:47

My husband is getting a pay rise of 1% unfortunately our accommodation will be going up by 4%

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