NHS pay plans criticised by health unions

  The NHS's £109bn budget is under severe pressure 

Unions have criticised plans to impose further squeezes on NHS pay in England.

Chancellor George Osborne had already capped rises across the public sector at a below-inflation 1%, but the Department of Health wants to withhold the increase for its 1.3m staff.

Instead it proposes using the funding intended for the 1% rise to "modernise" pay structures.

Health trusts are under pressure to make savings and the NHS wage bill accounts for around 40% of its budget.

In its submission to the NHS pay review body, the government says the planned 1% award is not affordable alongside the current system of small, automatic annual rises.

“Start Quote

(The health secretary) blames the staff on a regular basis. Now he want to further cut their terms and conditions”

Rachael Maskell Unite

It says these increments - linked to length of service and satisfactory performance - add £700m to salary costs.

And it points to a staff survey suggesting high levels of motivation and morale.

"The government's view, therefore, remains that basic pay increases should only be implemented if there is strong evidence that recruitment, retention, morale or motivation issues require this."

'Inflammatory'

The Department of Health wants the pay review bodies - which are due to make a recommendation on pay early next year - to defer the planned 1% pay rise until it has negotiated a move to seven-day working with unions.

But staff representatives reacted angrily to the plans.

"What they have done is inflammatory," said Christina McAnea, head of health at Unison and joint chair of the NHS Staff Council.

"They must have known how unions would react. We are not going to negotiate while a gun is held to our head for a paltry 1% pay rise - our members will not react well to that."

Dr Mark Porter, chair of the BMA Council added: "We recognise fully the economic constraints the NHS is working under but the continued erosion in the real value of contracts for doctors has now reached a critical point."

However, a Department of Health spokeswoman said no decisions had been made and stressed that the proposals would "help protect jobs and improve care".

She said: "Many NHS staff have continued to receive pay rises of up to 6% and we want to keep working with the trade unions and employers on affordable pay.

"The measures we are proposing will help increase quality for patients and help us realise our vision of an affordable seven-day service."

'Blames staff'

Setting out the government's spending plans in June, the chancellor said ministers were working to "remove automatic pay rises" for teachers, health professionals, prison and police staff.

The department drew attention to Mr Osborne's comments and confirmed it wanted NHS pay to have "stronger links to performance, quality and productivity".

But Rachael Maskell, from the Unite union told the Guardian newspaper Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt could be "trying to act in an even more draconian way than the Treasury with regards to staff who work across the NHS."

She added: "He blames the staff on a regular basis. Now he wants to further cut their terms and conditions."

Dr Porter told the newspaper: "For the government to imply that unless NHS staff endure what is effectively another year of pay cuts they will put patient safety at risk is insulting at best."