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

[AndyWarholsBanana]

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.

Government departments seem to spend an awful lot of money or working out how much delivering services cost to the extent to which it would be cheaper to go back to how it used to be and not have any financial monitoring type of situation!

I agree op (I'm a mental health nurse too).

I bloody hate that whenever I complain about cuts in the NHS people point out that it's tough in the private sector too, that they don't have pensions etc. This may be true, but I'd be paid a whack more money in the private sector, so it's hardly fair to remove all the perks of the public sector and expect our peanuts salary to dwindle as well.

I always thought I'd be NHS forever, I believe strongly in the NHS. But now I have my two dds I sometimes think about what the extra money I could earn in the private sector could do. I bet I'm not the only one thinking that way.

My OH works for the NHS and I am private sector so no axe to grind....

His pension is hugely better than anything that can be got in the private sector. When my actuary friend worked out what it would cost him to buy an annuity that would pay out the same he was and since then he has accepted his crappy pay rise with good grace. I had no or below-inflation pay rise for 5 years and took a 20% pay cut in 2008, so swings and roundabouts.... Could not argue with that as my sector (law) was making less money and people were losing their jobs through lack of work. The 1% pay rise is crap, but the overall package is still not too shabby.

I was fuming about the MP's 11% though....shameless!!

A minor point: incremental pay scales mean that even if you're doing a brilliant job and exceeding all criteria, you can only be 'awarded' a rise of one spine point. It artificially reduces the total pay for all the people working their way through that banding. It's shit.

A lot of workers in the public sector had their pay frozen on the spine point they were at years ago. Add increased pensions contributions (which in some cases I actually support) and yes, the same people are taking home less than they were, whereas they could reasonably have expected to be taking home more.

There are also cuts being made to leave entitlement for those earning promotion for some workers.

Someone remind me why I'm training to be a nurse? I feel like I'm going into this at completely the wrong time as it was a completely different situation the just over 3 years ago when I was applying (I qualify in sept). With winterbourne, Stafford and the Francis report and the daily mail anti-NHS campaign us newbies have a big job to do it seems.

Oh and god only knows what will be happening with pay and the NHS itself.

Anyway enough moaning. The trust where I bank has just cut bank rates by nearly £4 an hour for hca's. Not as much for nurses. It's a joke. I have no idea if I am entitled to the 1% or not as I'm not on incremental. It's a joke. Basically the trust has no money. I would go elsewhere (it's not my training trust) but I have less that 6 months now and financially we are doing ok.

meerkat it really is shit. It's not what we trained to do. But believe me if it wasn't for people like you who are willing to do it regardless.. then I don't know where we would be.

Carry on, and trust me there are days when you realise it's worth it. Though just not on the bank balance.

Am at top go grade so presume I will get the 1% .
Plus more than 25 years service so get generous hols.
I second what was said up thread about better staffing so I could get at least one break in a 12 hour shift.

When I'm on placement I'm reminded everyday while I do it. I'm not on placement at the moment (management starts in May).

It will be better anyway as it's better than I get at the moment with my measly bursary

I work in a non profit government department. Public Libraries to be exact. I was a supervisor.

I haven't had any kind of pay rise for 4 years.
Last year my job was deleted in a restructure and I had no choice but to apply for a lower paid job in a library several miles away. £200 a month less and £55 a month travel expenses that I didn't have to pay out before because I lived within walking distance of my base.

The real effect of this is that (apart from the bus company!) I am now spending less money day to day than I was - because I am now earning less money than I was 8 years ago.

So the little 'fripperies' that made life fun - an occasional coffee out for example - and the lesser of the essentials now don't get bought. Which is having a detrimental effect on the local retail economy, when you think about the thousands of people in the country who are in a similar or worse position than me...

And to cap it all off, my DH works in retail... We could not make a worse combination ...