Department calls for downward pressure on pay

Evidence to the other relevant pay review bodies – covering doctor and dentist, and senior manager pay – also emphasised the need for restraint to ensure funding was available to increase staff and activity levels.

A headline uplift of 2% was available, it told the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body, but with deals in place for other grades, it asked only for recommendations for hospital consultants.

The Department insisted it had to strike a balance between ensuring the health service has the workforce it needs, and keeping the NHS on a sustainable financial footing while delivering value for money for taxpayers.

‘There is a need for greater financial restraint in the context of stretching efficiency requirements and making progress towards long-term financial sustainability,’ it added.

The NHS budget is now set and there would be trade-offs between pay and other spending. Increasing staff numbers was crucial, but also came at a cost. ‘There is a direct trade-off between growing the workforce, investing in public services and giving higher pay rises,’ it said.

For the hospital and community health service workforce, an extra 1% on pay costs around £900m, or the equivalent of 16,000 full-time nurses or 500,000 procedures, the Department said. A pay award above what is affordable would reduce the service’s ability to address waiting list backlogs, it insisted.

The Senior Salaries Review Board was told each additional 1% rise for very senior managers and executive and senior managers – who largely work in arm’s length bodies – would add £6m a year to workforce costs.

Clinician and manager unions have called for a significant pay rise to protect health workers from the rising cost of living, and to enable the NHS to attract and retain staff.

Unison head of health Sara Gorton (pictured) said the proposal was ‘miserly’.

‘This tight-fisted proposal falls well short of rising costs and staff hopes. It’s barely half the rate of inflation, which is far from peaking and won’t for many more months. This will go down like a lead balloon with health workers struggling to fill up at the pump, buy groceries and pay bills. It would be a wage cut in all but name.

‘Nurses, healthcare assistants, hospital porters and others have borne a heavy responsibility during the pandemic. Now government expects the NHS team to work miracles with the Covid backlog, despite the growing staffing void.’

The Royal College of Nursing claimed the government’s approach of pitching nursing staff against patients will not be received well. General secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said: ‘This document shows the UK government is not serious about tackling the nursing workforce crisis, retaining expert and experienced nursing staff or making patient care safer.

‘Failing to pay a fair wage is a false economy: we know that many are thinking of quitting the profession and anything less than what they deserve will not prevent an exodus from a safety critical profession.

The pay review bodies are due to report in May.