AIBU to think a potential 2% pay rise for the NHS staff is ridiculous?

[Sunflowers68]

NHS England is cautioning against giving employees raises of more than 2%. is A band 2 salary is now only 10p above minimum wage due to the recent increase in the minimum wage. Surely, a 2% increase is insufficient for a job this challenging? If you are still working in the NHS, can you share your reasons why?

The performance related pay rises also leads to a very competitive environment and a lot of office politics and people wanting the same opportunities and roles, so it’s not always a nice environment to work in.

I worked as a band 2 HCA years ago when the pay was considerably more than minimum wage.

My role included:

Sole charge of upto 5 patients with MH issues for upto 12 hours overnight (supported by a nurse (band 5) I could call by phone who was on the other side of a locked door). In the day I would have a 2nd HCA.

Supporting patients with significant distress, hallucinations, and delusions.

Documenting presentation/ risk. Monitoring for any signs of changes to physical or mental health.

Taking patients on escorted community leave, including previously convicted murderers and sex offenders.

Responding to alarms and physically restraining patients. Including men significantly larger and stronger than me.

Responding to alarms where people had attempted suicide or were significantly self harming. Deescalating these situations. Sitting with and calming patients. Cleaning up blood / sharps after incidents.

Searching patients / rooms and belongings for dangerous objects / drugs.

I was injured and assaulted a number of times and verbally abused regularly.

There wasn't really a route for progression. We had a couple of people who had a band 3 role but they'd been there forever and unless they left there was no opportunity no matter how many courses you attended or skills you gained.

There is no way I would do that job for what band 2 is paid now.

Although, I'm not sure if the answer needs to be a combination of increased pay in general + some rebanding of roles to acknowledge the amount of work they actually do and the level of responsibility.

This, there like a cult like group when you mention the NHS pension.

I want more money NOW, not just when I retire in my early 70s (likely)

I am one of those who switched from private to public sector after examining the benefits. Funnily enough one of my perks in public sector is cheap gym membership!

I transferred my existing pension into defined benefits one and 9 years of my previous works pension where I’d upped my personal contribution from 3% to 10% was equivalent to 1 year of my db one which was slightly gutting!

I am glad I moved and I feel personally that I’m paid about right for my levdl but I am surrounded by people who think private sector earn mega bucks and public sector earn pittance and that public work twice as hard so deserve more. Half of the people that voice this opinion I think would last 3/4 months in companies I’ve worked in previously before getting let go. There’s a tonne of support here for people who aren’t preforming compared to private sector where you’d just be let go and private sector can be really brutal about sickness whereas there are people on our team who are sick at least every other month with no consequences. I have never worked anywhere before where I automatically got a payrise after a year. I’ve always had to move or threaten to move or gain a qualification to get more money so it was quite eye opening to hear people talk about what they “deserve”.

i also think comparing public to private is pointless because there is going to be such a wide range of private sector roles. Some will be great employers with loads of benefits and flexibility and others will be awful. And then there is all the nuances or clinical roles and training which means there is unlikely to be a like for like role.

I don’t think nhs recruitment difficulties is all down to salary though (for admin at least) some practises like asking for references before people have handed their notices in, taking 6 months to go from application to in post, wanting the moon on a stick for some basic roles and then they wonder why anyone half decent has found something else in the meantime.

I don’t really know what the answer to all this is. It’s not a race to the bottom and I think comparison of private vs public is pointless on both sides.

Exactly, they don't think it's good but it's a heck of a lot better than in the private sector. My pension actually has gone down in the last couple of years instead of up. I would rather keep my 4% contribution and have my company's contribution (a pitiful 5%) straight into a high interest rate account, than in a useless pension. We also have zero guarantee that we will be retiring at the current age, so not sure how much better NHS staff think it can get...

I don't know anyone that has got enhanced maternity pay in the private sector, maybe a lot of these organisations have just started to offer enhanced pay? Same than now there are childcare provisions for 2 years old. When I had my kids my daughter could t start til the term after she turned 3 and she only had 15 hours, glad to see there have been improvements though... I do think there is a difference between what the article says and what you said, it says 74% of organisations now offer enhanced maternity pay not that 74% of women get that. I am in my 40's so I had my maternity leave 10 years ago, and it was just 6 weeks at 90% then statutory. As I said, I don't know many women that had enhanced maternity pay apart from nurses.

I stand corrected is noy a year but they do get 4 weeks paid leave total per kid ,to be taken before kid is 18 and a lot more unpaid

It’s before the child is 14 according to that screenshot. Which works out at just under 1.5 days per year. Hardly a recruitment incentive, is it?

I don't agree with you regarding the private sector having much better perks, or maybe they do in the medical sector nowadays, but I work for a "platinum investors in people organisation" and perks are pretty much non existent apart from a robust sick leave pay. I do agree with you that is disgraceful that NHS staff have to pay extortionate parking prices, this should not be allowed.

Great explanation. I don't see how the NHS staff can't see this is a good perk....

I've been told that NHS who have worked for over 10 years get 33 days annual leave plus bank holidays. That's a massive amount of annual leave. My husband gets 20 days.

My bad - it is 74.1% of organisations not of women, with no information on where pregnant women are more likely to be employed (though hopefully they are in the places that offer decent mat pay since so many exist now).

It does sound like the UK is slowly doing better at offering support, even if the childcare offer is deeply flawed (hours are term time only, nursery paid less than the cost so parents pay a top up, etc). I'm sorry to hear this was less common 10 years ago.

I get 33 days leave. I've been in the nhs 16 years now

People keep saying that private pay is far better than public, but my point is to get a better (albeit not guaranteed pension like the NHS) pension you have to give up more of this wonderful headline pay that public sector keep talking about being better in the private sector. I'm sorry if the comparison was not clear enough for you.

Firstly because I am no spring chicken, secondly because for what I do the NHS is too slow moving and I would probably be sitting at my desk poking pins in my eyes to relieve the boredom

@Moreorlessmentallystable there is no paid parental leave for NHS employees in England. It looks like in Scotland there is, which is great for them. But certainly not in England.

Why doesn't your husband join NHS? I can't believe the misinformation on the thread despite people have touched upon the gruelling shift patterns and people have spoken upon the annual leave. NHS does not close on Bank Holidays the majority of staff have to work. Hospital wards do not just suddenly close. There is no paid parent leave either it's unpaid and it is not a given. NHS changed the rules and even the buying a week of extra annual leave isn't available to Band 2s any longer because it would bring their income under NMW.

No parent leave but we do get 5 days "carers leave" per year to take in an emergency such as a child being ill and not having anyone to look after them.

Also I agree the NHS isn't all that easy to get in to. A lot of roles will specify "NHS experience". Last time I was interviewing for a band 2 role (clinical, included weekends but not nights) we had over 40 applicants or more. The ones we interviewed, a lot of them were educated to degree level but wanted a "foot in" to the NHS.

@Sweetheart7 because he doesn't want to. My comment was about the fact that long term nhs staff get a very generous leave package. I was comparing it to my husband's leave package as a comparison.

This is disingenuous. Your husband will get 20 days plus bank holidays, as that's the legal minimum in the UK. You've presented this post in a way that makes it look like there's even more of a difference. Yes NHS holiday allowance is generous, but as PP says we work a lot of public holidays, and it's borderline impossible to get time off over school holidays (especially if you don't have children), so swings and roundabouts.

@innerdesign it's really not. I'm quoting my friend who works for the nhs who tells me that she gets 33 days plus bank holiday entitlement that can't always be taken on a bank holiday, but can be taken at another time. That means 41 days off a year. If I say it's 33 days compared to 20 or 41 compared to 28 it's still a massive difference. Don't you agree that nhs staff really generous leave? Even if I don't work there, I'm entitled to say that I think it's generous and staff are lucky to have it.

@usernother perhaps your husband needs to move jobs, yes we get 33 days plus BH. A private firm has just offered my 20 yr old graduate the same leave as me and other friends and family in industry get very similar if not more. I think it's your husband that's the odd one out

What private firm offers 33 days annual leave plus bh for new starters??

Decent in my experience is 25 days plus bank holidays. Which is actually on par with what I get in public sector actually.

The Big Four. It’s in recognition of the long hours, time spent away from home and generally having your life taken over. It’s cheaper than having your fee earners burn out.

I used to work in an industry where burnt out big 4 members would frequently move to. If you think anyone in big 4 actually takes their annual leave or that big 4 is a typical private sector employee I have a bridge to sell you.