Nurse pay rises to drop below 1%, warns NHS chief

22 January, 2010

Workers in parts of the NHS can expect pay rises below 1 per cent in coming years, NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has indicated.

Sir David told the Commons health committee the NHS will treat the 1 per cent cap demanded by chancellor Alistair Darling as a maximum rise, not an entitlement.

He also indicated unions will have to accept wage restraint to avoid job losses as the NHS goes into an “extraordinarily challenging” period of tighter budgets, telling MPs that there will be a “trade-off” between pay and jobs.

Sir David’s comments came a day after inflation hit 2.9 per cent.

Mr Darling set the scene for clashes over public sector pay in his pre-Budget report last month, when he announced a 1 per cent cap for two years from 2011.

Giving evidence to the health committee today, Sir David told MPs: “That is a pay cap. It is not meant to be what the settlement is. Clearly, we will be negotiating and discussing hard with the trade unions to see what we can get for the NHS as a whole.

“We see that as a pay cap, not as a right for everybody.”

Sir David last year warned that the NHS will have to find productivity and efficiency savings of £15-£20bn over the three years 2011-12 to 2013-14, to deal with a situation in which he expects the service’s overall budget to stand still, after 5%-plus rises this financial year and the next.

Pay restraint and job cuts are expected to form part of those efficiencies, along with savings in administrative functions.

Readers' comments (13)

Anonymous | 22-Jan-2010 3:06 pm
Nicholson is in a dream world if he thinks low-paid NHS staff will wear a 1% pay rise when inflation is nearly 3%. He needs to wake up to the realities of 2010, not 1910.
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 22-Jan-2010 3:24 pm
Will we stike is the question...
Unsuitable or offensive?
Michael Smith | 22-Jan-2010 6:34 pm
Sir David appears to be pre-empting the pay review process. For what its worth, staff side, management and the government will give evidence to the Pay Review Body who will then make recommendations to the government on pay.
Of course, Mr Darling has already scuppered the agreement, but it is not for Sir David to do so.
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 22-Jan-2010 7:34 pm
A case of too many chiefs comes to mind cut the number of management and we will be o.k .Way to many high salaries are being paid to fancy jobs with fancy titles.
Unsuitable or offensive?
Steve Williams | 22-Jan-2010 8:16 pm
--"Workers in parts of the NHS can expect pay rises below 1 per cent in coming years, NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has indicated..."--

Tell me is Sir David really on the Nurses side? Can someone remind me how many years he spent actually "nursing" on the 'floor' instead of even 'flying a desk?' Does he even have the first idea of what 'real' nursing is about?

Can we democratically vote him out or is he appointed by the gov't as a CEO.

Back in the 70's we used to flex our muscles once in a while to these twerps by NUPE and CoSHE taking united action - even the RCN chirped in with their Conservative masters.

Nowadays it seems that nurses are over-qualified, underpaid, divided and powerless... (just like the Doctors, surgeons, physicians, management.... relax I am being sardonic!)

More academic training leading to a nursing degree and stress that leads to post-training debts and reduced (in real-terms) wage standards.... ooh yeah, I wonder how they out they spin that one for recruitment?

15 years ago I had a teenage niece who thought it would be glamorous to follow me into nursing.... I sat her down and sternly told her "NO" - it was all fiction. Fortunately she listened to me and now is a successful businesswoman....

Thank god I got one thing in my 35+ year nursing career!

Steve.
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 22-Jan-2010 10:54 pm
Relax, come the post election period if as predicted, but not welcome, the tories get into office, health service funding will be protected. Won't it? Well, I don't think there will be much of a problem anyway with cutting jobs because if one is cleaver enough to get a degree, why come into nursing when there are other opportunities in other professions, so there will be fewer recruits. And with so many nurses due to retire, natural wastage will take care of cutting jobs. So that leaves the rest of you. It's about time you all pulled together, stood up for yourselves, don't rely on the goodwill of others, because there isn't any, and fight for what you want. Nobody in the history of mankind ever got anything without a fight of one kind or another.
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 22-Jan-2010 11:24 pm
I think we are all walk overs. Paramedics, portering staff, fireman and police all stand up for themselves and why??? majority are men. We are puttting up with and letting ourselves be put down and be undervalued. Who are the daft ones?? NHS is under staffed to start with, how would they cope with strike? also how would they fight a 1% payrise when inflation is 3%??? Its about time we stood together and made a point!! Poor working conditions, pay, no support and we accept it! Madness
Nursing is no longer a attractive career,
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 23-Jan-2010 7:23 am
1% mr darling your in cookoo land there is already infection,short staff,work force pushed to the limit and you do this you dont think of the patients where is your loyalty to to your people that gave you your job? watch this space you can push people to far dont forget us nurses cant dive into the petty cash for extra resorses like the rest of parliment to pay for dogfood sexy vidios morgage on another house toyboy? i feel a strike comming on and you out?
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 23-Jan-2010 8:39 am
This is madness. So money is not the only reason why we have chosen to do this job, but its not an excuse for poor pay. We work hard, very hard, why should we have to get a pathetic pay rise that doesn't even come close to the rate of inflation? We can be sure that Sir David, Mr Darling and anyone else 'at the top' won't be struggling to pay their mortage(s)! I would like to see us fight this all the way. "the 1% pay rise is a cap, not an entitlement", now that just adds insult to injury!
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 23-Jan-2010 2:23 pm
I am a third year nursing student who has transferred from the diploma to degree programme through sheer hard work and determination both academically and practically. I am also a HCA employed through the Trust temporary staffing department - necessary to top up the household income, pay the mortgage and keep a roof over our heads.

At 43 years of age I'm not a naive youngster who hasn't seen life. Im just someone who wanted to pursue the career that she chose when Ishe was still at school all those years ago before children came along and I have to say I am loving it and every challenge that it brings!

I left a cushy job in the civil service to do my nurse training in light of threatened job cuts in my area of work. At the time I left I was earning £25k pa, 30 days pa holiday plus 10.5 days bank holiday and flexi time Monday to Friday. That would probably equate to at least £28k pa now including enhancements for time served. Yes you still get that in the civil service! But although I did my job well it didn't matter, what I did everyday didn't make a difference - I was just a pen pusher. Am I the only one struggling to get my head round the difference in pay scales that the Government is responsible for? When I qualify after 3 years of debt I will breathe a sigh of relief if I can secure a job for £20k. How can the Government justify this paltry wage review compared to the salaries for administration jobs in their Government departments? What evidence-base is behind this decision?
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 24-Jan-2010 10:35 am
The government and managers are so selfish. They don't reward people in this kind of job which is important. Nurses are needed in health services, but they know that, well I thought they would do. Obviously not. Its funny how administrators are highly paid or managers who do nothing compared to what nurses do. Nurses hardly get paid enough, even they do a fantastic job most of the time.
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 26-Jan-2010 11:08 pm
I am sure if the general public knew that like the Bankers high up bosses at the NHS also get huge bonuses they would be horrified cut these and the problem is soved
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 3-Feb-2010 11:27 am
Well I find this whole debacle incredible.

Why should nurses put up with below inflation pay rises, removal of incremental rises and squeezing to save the public purse?!

Where in in the article above, newspaper headlines and other media reporting are the squeezes on MP pay? What about the MP's expenses, or their Gold plated pensions?!!

It is about time the MP's and Government reduce their salaried pay, their pensions and provide for those in healthcare that looks after them when unwell or their families.

The average salary for an MP was £64,766 as of 1 April 2009, Personal Additional Accommodation Expenditure of
£24,222

The Prime Minister has been entitled to a salary of £197, 689 (including MP's salary of £64,766) from 1 April 2009

Contributions paid by the taxpayer amount to 27 per cent of an MP's £63,291 salary, around double the typical level of employers' contributions in the private sector.

The cost to the Treasury of MPs' pensions has risen by around 25 per cent in the past few years, from £9.8 million in 2003 to £12 million last year.

So where is the justice for Nurses when we are being asked to sit and smile when our incremental pay rises go or have below inflation pay rises!
Unsuitable or offensive?