NHS staff will be hundreds of pounds worse off next year

The Labour Party has claimed that thousands of NHS heroes will be hundreds of pounds worse off next year under government recommendations.

Research by the House of Commons Library shows that nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and other clinicians are set to be hundreds of pounds worse off in real terms every month if the government’s recommendations of a one per cent pay increase are implemented.

The figures show that, under the proposed pay increase, the basic starting salary of a Band 5 nurse is £174 a year less in real terms. For a band 6 nurse with five years experience in the role, the one per cent pay rise equates to a cut of £236 a year in real terms.

Labour also suggests that, under the proposed increase: basic salary of a highly specialist occupational therapist, physio or health visitor, with seven years experience, will be £312 less in real terms; for doctors, a new NHS consultant will be £572 worse off every year once inflation is taken into account; and for the most experienced consultants with over a decade of experience, the real terms impact of this pay increase will be over £680 a month less.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said: “Boris Johnson is cutting the pay of our hardworking brave NHS staff in the middle of a devastating pandemic. Sneaking out this pay cut in the small print was cowardly and shameful. Yet again it shows you simply can’t trust the Tories with NHS.”