Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he will ‘fight to get nurses a fair reward’ for their hard work during the coronavirus crisis.

However, he stopped short of guaranteeing a pay rise when asked about this by a member of the public.

Speaking at the daily Downing Street press briefing, he said nursing is  a ‘highly skilled profession and deserves decent pay’ but pointed out that their wages had gone up recently.

He said: ‘We put up nurses’ pay last month, and in fact last year we had the fastest rise, the biggest rise in pay – especially for nurses who are starting their career and the lowest paid nurses, who got a very significant pay rise of over 15%.

‘So there has been a significant pay rise for nurses. And I think one of the things the crisis has shown is just how much the nation values our staff across the health and care system, including nurses.

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‘And when it comes to how we reward people for their efforts in this crisis, what I can tell you is that as the Health Secretary I will be making sure that we fight to have that fair reward.’

More to follow

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