..to ask what Mumsnetters think of the withholding of a 1% pay increase to NHS workers who are due an 'increment'

[Nuffieldnurseshome]

Unsurprisingly , yes I am an NHS worker, a nurse. I feel incredibly angry that after two years of a pay freeze, NHS workers, who are predominantly females, many of which in part time employment, will not be getting any pay rise again this year.

Are we immune to inflation? Has the value of what we do gone down?

The government has totally shafted us in my opinion, the 'increments' are part and parcel of our t&c and are there to reflect the skills and experience you gain over a defined period in the job. The other option is to pay everyone the 'fair' or 'going rate' from day one which in my opinion is more than just over £21k for the people who will be keeping you alive if you are unfortunate to require such care.

How is it fair that the get can ride roughshod over its own workers contracts, giving what amount to preferential rates to some of it staff but not others??????

And before anyone says well NHS workers needs to bear the brunt of austerity just the same as everyone else, yes, I agree but we still need a living wage, and I for one have list money in increase dense contributions ( even tho nurses pension pot is not and never has been in a deficit), loss of clothing allowance and loss of mileage allowance ( I now pay the NHS to use my own vehicle to visit clients!)

Honestly, what do we all think of this?

Thing is if you're straight from school and your parents are reasonable earners or your husband has an average wage you get little or nothing anyway so stopping the bursary is going to make hardly any difference at all!

I have 37 years done, not sure how I managed to survive the Thatcher years, and I am counting the paydays to retirement. Been on top increment for over a decade.
I will be having a party the day I leave. The NHS has gone to hell in a hand basket, not held to ransom by the government but to the new Foundation Trusts made. Managers for 'managing' sake and that goes for Nursing bands above 7. In the main Experience being drained from the wards and on occassions the solution to those who are not fit for purpose who know the system to prevent them being sacked.

I work full time for nhs and weekends in private sector. Although I've not had a pay rise In either job for at least three years that I can remember but still I get paid double per hour what I do for the nhs work, and the private work is far less stressful than nhs.
However, I also did a pgce and pgdip to get to this level and have had no financial gain for doing this extra studying which benefits both sectors enormously.

My childcare costs are increasing, household bills are increasing and yet we have to carry on feeling the pinch with out a decent payrise.

If the hours were there in the private job I certainly would be jumping ship!

I would never encourage I child of mine to work for the NHS but tbh when they reach working age I don't think there will be an NHS! I Completley agree with everything you say pixie.

X2boys

Sorry I wasn't trying to be offensive in saying band 5 is entry level / Newley qualified. I know and appreciate many excellent nurses either choose to stay at this level or lack the opportunities to progress.

Of our team of 4 RMN's thee are three band six's and one band five which is bloody unfair as we all do exactly the same. Thee is no band five role in the type of work we do.

I was just trying to make the point that it seems very unfair and ill thought out to replace staff who have accepted and ( hopefully) fulfil the role of a band six ( complex, risky work mostly completely alone and unsupervised) with Nurses who will have expectations of fulfilling a more straightforward nursing role ( still nobody hard work and challenging it with more direct support etc).

its all right Nuffield I,m an RMN too I don't know whats going to happen to services in the next couple of years the current proposal in our trust are to close fifty beds in our small area[I work for a very large mental health trust] and patients to revceive three visits a day from CPN,s not good enough I say and not fair on CPN who already have a difficult enough job as it is.

I do fear for the nhs, and I say this as an NHS worker.

My job used to be band 2 but new starters are band 1.

I think it will become privitised in the next few years something similar to academy schools Ican they have already started the drug and alcohol services are now run by a private tender.

I think it's truly shocking what we get paid for the amount of stress we have to deal with and the responsibility we take. I can't remember the last decent payrise I got. We are not strictly NHS but my workplace follows what the NHS give as a payrise generally. on top of that we have to pay £20 more just to register as well.

Before I did my training nurses would often say to me 'dont'. I took on board what they said but had to find out for myself. There's things I love about my job, but I'm barely capable of doing it because of bureaucracy.