Fresh squeeze on NHS pay sparks union strike warning

[dutchman]

Unions have reacted with anger to news of a fresh round of below-inflation pay rises for NHS staff in England.



Ministers have announced a basic 1% pay rise, but the 600,000 nurses and other staff receiving automatic "progression-in-job" increases, "typically worth over 3%", will not get the 1% as well.

The main health service unions in England said they would consult members on taking industrial action.

Members of the armed forces, prison officers and judges are due 1% rises.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation is currently at 2%, and the NHS pay review body had recommended that all NHS staff should get a 1% pay rise - whether they were also entitled to progression pay increases or not.

The Scottish government has said it will adopt the NHS pay review body's recommendations in full, meaning that all NHS staff in Scotland will receive the 1% pay rise. In addition, NHS staff in Scotland earning under £21,000 a year will get a £300 rise.

The devolved governments in Northern Ireland and Wales have not yet announced whether they will follow suit.

But Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said implementing the pay body's recommendations in England would be "unaffordable and would risk the quality of patient care".

He told BBC Radio 4's The World at One around 6,000 nursing job would have had to be cut if everyone in the NHS had got the 1% rise.

He said: "The whole progression pay system is mad. I mean someone on a £50,000 salary will get a 4.7% progression pay rise, whereas someone on £14,000 would only get a 2.5% progression pay rise. It shouldn't just be about time served it should be about how well you look after patients."