All public sector pay increases would be limited to 2% “across the board”.
A pay rise for public sector workers has reportedly already been capped at just 2%.
According to The Times, Treasury briefings reveal that all public sector pay increases would be limited to 2% “across the board” for the 2023/24 financial year to “balance the books”.
The news comes ahead of the Autumn Statement, in which Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and PM Rishi Sunak are also widely expected to make public sector efficiency savings and increase taxes.
With inflation just above 10%, it would almost certainly represent a further real-terms pay cut for nurses and other NHS workers.
A cost of living crisis.
The cap would mean the most experienced frontline nurses would see their pay fall by a further £2,634 on top of the £9,658 since 2008.
The news comes as nurses across the UK vote on potential strike action amid the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. Last week think tank London Economics revealed nurses are essentially working one day a week for free.
Polling undertaken by NursingNotes also found an increase in the number of nurses skipping meals (47%) to save money and paying for essential items on credit cards (61%).
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned the move would be “bad politics and bad economics” amid mounting discontent over pay and working conditions.
Bad politics and bad economics.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen explained, “ministers are stuck on yesterday’s ideas of giving yet more pay cuts – our members have had a decade of this, they’ve paid the price and enough is enough,” she said.
“Only last week new research we commissioned showed experienced nurses effectively are working one day a week for free because of a decade of real-terms pay cuts.
“One solution to the nursing workforce crisis, which is making care unsafe, is to recruit and retain more staff by paying them fairly.”
Unison General Secretary Christina McAnea, added, “Holding down pay for public sector staff is the worst possible response. This shows a government with no ideas, nor a grasp of the reality of people’s lives.
