Nurses’ pay compared with other jobs

[Pinkapron]

Would anyone be prepared to share what they pay tradespeople in their homes, eg cleaners, gardeners, plumbers, electricians etc, per hour please?
I am a staff nurse, 32 years qualified, with post graduate qualifications, and earn £16.84 per hour.

I don’t believe there is any evidence in this thread of any assumption that self employed trades are unskilled. Of course they are highly skilled, or they wouldn’t be in work for long!

It would be better to compare your wage to a similar profession OP.

For example, I am a registered veterinary nurse on just over £13 pH. I have been qualified just over 20yrs, and have always worked full time - 40hr/week.

The figures given here also aren’t comparable because they’re for private services. What individual people are willing to pay for something discretionary is different to what government budgets afford their staff. A more reasonable comparison might be looking at what a standard tradesperson employed by the council / a housing association or a cleaner employed by a hospital earns - which is much less than most nurses.

Nurses getting higher pay (which I support) will mean all of us - and that means all of us, not just “those earning more than I do”, which is what too many people seem to think of as the criteria for increased tax rates - paying much more tax, even if you don’t think you could afford to.

Self employed pay can't be compared to salaried.
The tax, national insurance, vat, makes it very different.

@HellsAngel81
What level of qualification do you need? It is also a degree as nursing is?

I pay my personal trainer £35 for 45 minutes. He has a degree in sports science. I wouldn’t pay that if he wasn’t qualified to degree level.

If you're looking at nursing pay I think it needs to be compared with other jobs which need a university degree snd compulsory registration with a professional body

@StrataZon there are 2 ways a vet nurse can qualify - either diploma or degree. The degree route is increasing in popularity and I imagine that somewhere in the near future all RVNs will qualify through the degree.

The degree didn't exist when I was training, so I qualified via the NVQ (diploma equivalent).

Absolutely agree with this. The best thing to do is go to your unions, and say what responsibilities you have and what has changed over the years which puts your into the band 6 bracket as a general experienced nurse. Have a look at other medical trades with level 6 and 7 qualifications (physios, paramedics, ODP etc.), see what they do for their band 5,6,7 roles too.

@FallSpringing without denigrating cleaners if you required ventilating you'd be happy for your cleaner to care for you after a mornings instruction ?

£12 an hour for cleaner

I work in admin in the nhs. I've worked for the nhs in this role for 7 years. I earn mid band 5 at the moment plus 3k per year recruit and retain. As of December I will be top of band 5 plus 3k so earning technically a band 6 wage. Plus sick.pay, pension etc.

It's a fucking disgrace that I earn more than some nurses. I sit on my arse at home for 7.5 hours a day. I'm not saying my job isn't useful or important to the running of the hospital, it is, but I'm not exactly saving lives.

I earn between £5 and £15 an hour before costs as a childminder. £5 an hour per child to include food, activities etc. Gov pay us £4.50 an hour for the kids on 30 hours funding so on occasion I earn £4.50 an hour and shoulder the loss.

I'm a Carer and for 35 hours Carers Allowance is £69.00 per week.

@FixundFoxi I said I value her skills as a cleaner, I didn't say she was skilled as a nurse, as it is a different profession, and that's okay. Also nice way to subtly inflate your own sense of self importance there, it's not just nurses caring for ventilated patients is it. They have a team around them of doctors, anaesthetists, physiotherapists, and so on.

£1.97 per hour

I don't think these comparisons are helpful really. Tradespeople work hard, often have to buy their own equipment, and if they're self employed don't get pension contributions, sick pay or annual leave as a nurse gets. Surely the better angle is to point out how pay has been eroded for nurses whilst conversely the responsibilities and workloads have been increasing.

Our cleaner gets £15ph
Our nanny gets £16.50 ph

Agree with this

I pay cleaner/carer for DM £12.50 an hour
where I work we pay unqualified staff £13 an hour and qualified £16 - not nursing but similar

Such a nasty sneery phrase.
You have a lack of awareness of nursing roles.

If I employed a trader that treated me as badly as the nurses I’ve encountered over the years I’d be leaving a bad review on check trade. Funnily enough there isn’t such a service for nurses….

Plumber on Friday. £45 for an hour...

I pay my cleaner £15 an hour. What you're being paid is a disgrace.

Dsis qualified about 10 years ago. Nurse trainer now. Earns £50k with another 20% going into her pension.