To think that if NHS staff get a 1% pay rise that is nothing but an insult?

[Bluetoybox]

Given the joke of a pay rise given over the last 3 years, well below inflation in real terms anyway but where the Government also out and out lied by failing to mention that you'd drop an increment step to get your pay rise and now this after all the NHS have done in the last year!!! A decade capped at 1% before the 3 year review and now they want to send us right back to 1%
Absolutely disgusted!

it's a shame those nhs staff who have gone above and beyond in the pandemic can't be better rewarded, but it would be absurd to extend that to every single person in the NHS plenty of whom will have seen the work stay the same or be reduced. and how on earth would they fund more generous rises when the country is going into massive debt keeping the furloughed population on partial pay plus all the other costs of the pandemic

Agreed. People voted Tory, they are terrified of paying more tax even when they can afford it. You can't have it both ways.

And some people in the NHS have worked really hard during this. Others have not.

Pay rises should be targeted at regions most affected e.g NW and SE get 3%, parts of the SW such as Bristol 2%, places like Cornwall and Isle of Man 0. That would be the fairest way rather than a blanket 1%.

There are huge numbers of staff leaving because they can’t afford to stay in the job. Newly qualified nurses who simply didn’t realise how poor the pay is and walk away before they even start.

The vacancy rate is huge.

The simple fact is that either you pay people fairly, or the service suffers

And watch out for the new proposals to move to Integrated Care Systems.....if you read the fine print, they want to re-classify the role of “nurse” so that they can hit the target of having X number of new nurses. There won’t be new nurses - there will be the same number of staff re-classified

The system is crumbling and no one has the political will or the sense to stop it

@Racoonworld

Would any of you want to pay higher taxes so that NHS staff can get a decent pay rise? I’d be happy to myself, but many don’t seem to want to pay more. There isn’t the money currently, our country is in so much debt.

Then the government need to go after the big corporations. They don't want to, though.

Where are ex NHS working when they quit? The only jobs around here are zero minimum wage - in care homes or as delivery drivers. Very little else.

@Donotfeedthebears

Where are ex NHS working when they quit? The only jobs around here are zero minimum wage - in care homes or as delivery drivers. Very little else.

Agency. Private sector. If young enough and experienced enough, they can go abroad and get better pay and conditions.

NHS staff are really underpaid for what they do and the qualifications and experience their jobs require. Go to another country and they are paid a lot more.

You mean you can't pay your bills with claps? Who'd have thought

It’s massively insulting!

I was redeployed last March to work in intensive care, I was terrified (as were my colleagues) and spent the weekend before crying non stop believing I would catch Covid and die, I’ve never experienced fear like it. I worked there until I handed my notice in and left, after 10 months. I won’t go into the details of how bad things were, you’ve all seen the news reports.

As soon as the Tory voting boomers can no longer vote the better! The NHS staff pleaded with them not to vote Tory in the last election and look where we are

What would happen if I showed up outside a hospital with a home made sign to demonstrate about this 1%? I'm not in the NHS btw.
Oh, and is there a petition yet?

Yanbu because obviously you deserve to be paid more.
But Yabu a bit given the rest of the public sector isn’t getting anything. My pay has been identified as anomalously low within my grade (basically lots of other people being paid a lot more to do the same thing) but they won’t change it until the pay freeze is over.

As soon as the Tory voting boomers can no longer vote the better! The NHS staff pleaded with them not to vote Tory in the last election and look where we are

You were working really hard to stop them dying from covid, I bet money most would vote exactly the same way, look at the polling. Look at Johnson, the NHS saved his life, he's not grateful at all, was he in the crowd in parliament cheering when they voted down a pay rise for you?

I can't make up my mind what I think of this.

On one hand tax hasn't increased for the average NHS worker and inflation is low so 1% for this year is actually a pay rise. and for me (an NHS worker) thats ok if it helps pay the debt back.

However the issue I have is that I feel the tories would have done this pandemic or not. The NHS cannot continues to be given below inflation pay rises year on year. So for me it depends what they do next year, I really doubt it will ever be higher than 1% let alone equal to inflation.

Oh, and I'm not young, I'm just about at the tail end of the BBoomers. I'm really proud to say I've never voted Tory though and didn't vote for Brexit, despite being a properly owning higher rate taxpayer. Were not all so selfish.

A 1% increase is nothing, but you can't say no change is good or bad without having a good idea what pay should be in the first place. Something a lot more specific and justified than "more" or " as much as possible."

Given the NHS has a near-monopoly on employing staff in the sector, we can't easily judge what a market salary would be.

But they had a round of applause once a week. Surely that's enough to keep their spirits up?

The problem is the NHS is huge, it is one of the biggest employers in the world. 1% costs a lot of money, people are moaning about having tax bands frozen over the next few years. We would all need to pay substantially more to cover the cost. Unfortunately many private sector jobs are going to go, companies are going to go and there will be even less money to dish out.
I do agree 1% is cr*p though.

An irony is that millions and millions of pounds are spent each year on recruitment and return to practise campaigns.

I'm not surprised at the 1%. And the recent 3 year pay deal only made a positive difference to some staff, others hardly saw any difference in their salary as a result.

Sorry if this is really obvious to people if it's below inflation isn't it basically a pay cut but less of a pay cut than 0% rise? Is that right?

The Govt has just found billions to give 130% tax breaks for business investment.

However, it really is the nurses fault, they need to strike, its the only way to get better pay and conditions.

If patients suffer, thats down to Johnson, not the medical staff.

Some will say that will lose them public support... so what? clapping doesn't pay bills & judging by a recent thread on here, people think they are bunch of uncaring people in any case.

The public sector especially NHS staff, social carers, teachers and policemen are treated disgracefully in this country. Always have been. Their working pay, hours and conditions significantly worse than the equivalent in the private sector. Gold-plated pensions and job security are a myth these days and even if they are still slightly better in these two aspects in the private sector, it doesn’t offset the low pay, worsening conditions and chronic underfunding. Real time pay has decreased every year but working conditions have got more strenuous. Also, a lot of the public sector aren’t natural voters of the party that tends to be in power (nor floating ones) so the government have no need to make them happy.

There’s always billions for vanity projects, giving billions to their mates, corruption, crony contracts, billions to throw at other stupid nonsense but when it comes to funding the public sector and paying people properly, it’s always “we are broke” or “the private sector is suffering right now” except whenever the private sector is booming, the public sector don’t reap any dividends at all.

The only reason the public sector is still keeping the country going is because it’s full of people who tend to go above and beyond and work hundreds of unpaid hours (especially teachers) despite their low pay and conditions. If everyone in the public sector just worked the hours they were paid for, this country would collapse overnight. So many people don’t realise that. The minute workers grow a spine and start organising, that’s only when real change can happen.

People complain about the state of the NHS, education and law enforcement but aren’t willing to vote for parties or policies that will fund it adequately or pay their workers fairly for what they do. What do they expect? How can you complain? There may be some mismanagement in the NHS but schools, police stations, emergency services and especially social care is stripped to the bare bones. Every penny is stretched as far as it can. No wonder we are haemorrhaging our best teachers, nurses and doctors to the private sector or overseas.

@Fire7

The problem is there's simply no money. That was always going to happen after 3 lockdowns and having whole swaths of the economy and society closed for a year.

The government is funded by people working and paying taxes. That is what funds hospitals and nurses.

I think a lot of people who seem to think lockdowns are cost free are going to be in for a shock over the next few years.

This is just the beginning of the long-term consequences.

This. 1% isn't a lot no, but its something. There's a lot of people who have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut to be furloughed. I get they've worked hard, not all NHS let's be honest, but there simply isn't the money to go around. The NHS gives a pay rise to all, it's a huge amount of money, much more than the amount spent of Track and Trace.

Can I ask a (genuine) question, as someone who is unsure what to think, here?

How does nursing pay work, is there any distinction between different specialties, or is nurse pay negotiated as a whole?

I would have thought it is a stronger case to secure pay rises for those nurse specialties that took the real brunt of the pandemic (e.g. ICU nurses, or other intensive care specialties?). Many nurses saw their workloads drop over the pandemic, however, so this doesn't seem the best basis for argument.

I'm also assuming the unions would not stand for a stratified pay structure based on specialty.

On the other hand, a general argument that nurses are underpaid (relative to?) is entirely fair to make, if not something I necessarily agree with without question. One can certainly make the case that X years with no real-terms increase is pretty symptomatic of where our economies are right now, in the West, sadly.

And so is the millions of people who will lose their jobs in the private sector as a result of economic disaster
Private sector needs to be strong to have a well funded public service
Simple

I think they should get more but it’s not just NHS staff that deserve it. All carers in private cars companies should get a pay rise too.