NHS workers need healthier pay

On 5 June nurses, radiographers, doctors, physiotherapists, paramedics, hospital cleaners and other NHS staff gathered across hospitals in Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland in protest, angry that their pay is still being capped – despite the economic recovery.

NHS workers are also having to deal with the detrimental impact that government policies are having on their pay and standard of living across the board. So, last week they came together to give a timely reminder to the government about the £1.5billion in unpaid overtime they put in each year.

The £1.5 billion figure represents the amount that the TUC’s All Together for the NHS campaign – which includes 14 unions representing members employed throughout the health service – estimates that NHS staff in England are ‘donating’ to the government each year as unpaid overtime.

NHS employees are keen to remind Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of the many extra unpaid hours they willingly work each year, which effectively keep the NHS going. They are unhappy that – despite this huge ‘donation’ in unpaid overtime that the government benefits from every year – ministers are determined to limit health service pay rises to well below the rate of inflation.

The pay review body calculated that the cost of giving NHS staff a one per cent rise and their incremental pay increase – which the Health Secretary says the government cannot afford – would cost £710 million this year. This is less than half the amount given in unpaid overtime each year by NHS workers.

Unions say that by 2015/2016 NHS staff will have had their pay capped for six years. Pay was frozen in 2011 and 2012, and then limited to a one per cent increase in 2013. NHS workers are angry that the government is continuing to hold down their pay despite the improving economic situation. Only employees who are at the top of their pay grade will receive a pay increase – again capped at one per cent this year and two per cent next.

The combination of freezes and caps has placed a huge squeeze on their household finances. With the economy now firmly in recovery mode, health service workers might have been forgiven for thinking that the days of public sector pay restraint would be over. But the government has chosen to ignore the advice of the pay review body and is continuing to hold down the salaries of nurses, paramedics and other NHS workers for at least another year.

The effects of economic recovery have yet to be felt in the pay packets of millions of NHS employees. Morale has never been lower, and cuts to staffing mean most are working longer – often for free. No wonder they feel so aggrieved. 

It’s time the government demonstrated some caring for the caring professions - and gave health service workers a proper pay rise.

Beth Farhat – Northern TUC