NHS pay: Sajid Javid says he is ‘considering recommendation’

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The Government faced backlash earlier this year for advising NHS employees could receive a 1 percent pay rise. However, the Prime Minister insisted the offer was made “on the basis of affordability”.

The NHS Pay Review Body is said to have suggested the 3 percent increase, which has been given the green light by ministers.

The Royal College of Nursing, who blasted the 1 percent rise, previously demanded a 12.5 percent pay rise.

Boris Johnson addressed the calls for a higher pay increase, pointing out that the country was going through “tough times”.

He said: “I’m massively grateful to all NHS staff and indeed for social care workers who’ve been heroic throughout the pandemic.

“What we have done is try to give them as much as we can at the present time.

“The independent pay review body will obviously look at what we’ve proposed and come back.

“Don’t forget that there has been a public sector pay freeze, we’re in pretty tough times.”

Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, from Unite, said: “If the pay review body is recommending a 3 percent pay rise, it is a small step forward on the insulting 1 percent the government offered in March.

“But this recommendation in no way recognises the 19 percent drop in real earnings that many NHS workers have endured in the last decade, nor the immense sacrifices that health staff have and are continuing to make as Covid infection rates rapidly rise again.

READ MORE: Boris issues final Covid warning before Freedom Day

“It doesn’t match the 4 percent the Scottish government offered to NHS workers backdated to December 2020.”

Royal College of Nursing acting general secretary Pat Cullen said: “Nursing pay has fallen significantly in the last decade – by 15 percent in real terms.

“If the Government is serious about filling the tens of thousands of nurse jobs then a ­significant pay rise is needed. It is crucial to NHS recovery.

“Low-level awards of a couple of percent would look timid and insult staff when the challenges they face have never been greater.”

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