The government is facing a fierce row after recommending that most NHS staff should get a 1% pay increase next year. Labour and unions say they deserve more after their efforts in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
How is NHS pay decided?
Central to it is the independent Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB), and the NHS pay review body which sets pay for nurses and other staff. They receive annual recommendations from the Department of Health and Social Care, consider these and other factors and then make their own recommendations, with the government ultimately deciding. Health is a devolved matter, and the administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also make recommendations. The 1% recommendation is for staff in England.
What has happened so far?
The health department has sent its review of evidence to the DDRB and to the pay review body for the NHS England 2021-22 pay round, and recommended a 1% annual rise to both. This will be considered by the bodies, and the government expects responses in late spring.
What are the government’s arguments for the 1% rise?
The documents say the past year has “posed unprecedented challenges to our NHS”, but also note that the pandemic has severely affected the economy and the NHS’s finances. In the context of a pay freeze for other public sector workers, the evidence says, a 1% rise is all that can be justified, with consumer price inflation at 0.6%, and that “anything higher would require reprioritisation” of resources.
Who is included under the 1% plan?
The proposals would apply to all staff apart from junior doctors, GPs and dentists, who have separate pay deals in place. For example, in 2019 junior doctors accepted an 8.2% pay rise over four years following a long dispute.
What has the reaction been to the announcement?
From unions and opposition parties there has been fury. The British Medical Association called the plan “a total dereliction of the government’s moral duty” to NHS staff. Unison called it “the worst kind of insult the government could give health workers who’ve given their absolute everything over the past year”. The Royal College of Nursing said it was “pitiful and bitterly disappointing”. The organisations that represent NHS trusts in England, NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, have said they think it is too low.
Will the government back down?
While the review for the DDRB has already been finalised and published, the junior health minister Nadine Dorries said the government could “see where we move to on this”. However, Dorries also said she had been “pleasantly surprised” that any increase had been proposed at all, given the wider public sector pay freeze.
What happened last year?
This is an issue that has not been in the headlines for a bit, as the last pay deal for nurses and other staff, in 2018, gave an increase of at least 6.5% over the next three years. That followed seven years of a 1% cap on pay deals during the period of austerity politics. Last year doctors and dentists were given a 2.8% pay rise.
