Government faces backlash over NHS staff’s proposed pay rise

A sense of anger has arisen in the nation following a new government policy to raise the NHS nurse’s and other healthcare staff’s current salary by 1%. A move that RCN’s (Royal College of Nursing) chief Dame Donna Kinnair described as “pitiful”. This is in spite of the fact that just two years ago the government committed to a minimum 2.1 percent pay rise, something they have so far failed to deliver on. The decision made by the government means that NHS nurses and staff members on the average yearly income will see an extra £3.50 a week added to their current salary, which sits at just £33,384 a year.

An RNC digital billboard (Getty)

Backlash to this proposal can be seen across the board, with discontent evident amongst the opposition parties (most notably the Labour Party), trade unions, current NHS employees and even backbench MPs within the Conservative party. Labour leader, Sir Kier Starmer, bashed the proposal in PMQs questioning how “(Boris Johnson) could afford to give Dominic Cummins a 40 percent pay rise” while “asking NHS nurses to take a real term pay cut”. On top of this, nursing unions have reacted with even more malice towards the news, resulting in ballots being taken in order to enact a strike even during Covid times. The divisive nature of the issue at hand has also caused the Prime Minister a headache within his own party. Many backbench MPs feel as if this could be heading towards another embarrassing U turn like the one suffered by the government in the case of free school meals, headed by Manchester United and England football star Marcus Rashford.

Nurses at work (PA)

However, despite the uproar in opposition to the government’s proposal, many leading officials within the government have doubled down on their stance and continued to stand by the 1% rise. Matt Hancock, defended the proposal at a Downing Street briefing. He claimed that due to the financial pressure the country is under as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise reflected what the governments sees as “affordable”. He also goes onto parade the fact he was able to secure this pay rise under the current public sector pay freeze put in place by Chancellor, Rishi Sunak. In addition to this, Junior Health Minister, Lord Bethell, seemed to add fuel to the fire when he stated, “Nurses are well-paid for the job” and many people even “envy” their job security.

In a report by the TUC, they concluded that as a result of the rising inflation rate over the last 11 years, should the proposed 1 percent pay rise come to fruition, NHS nurses will in fact be £2500 pounds worse off than they were in 2010. This emphasises the huge neglect towards the Health sector and its staff, and highlights frontline worker’s disgust at the plan. As NHS nurse Sian Rodger pointed out “Love for my profession and applause from the public don’t pay the bills”.