Pension opt-out plan sparks nurse protest

Nurses have been protesting outside the Lister Hospital in Stevenage after managers offered agency staff higher wages to work directly for the NHS - if they opt out of its pension scheme.

The Royal College of Nursing and Unison unions claim pay should be offered at a higher rate without jeopardising the retirement income of colleagues.

Unison's head of health in the East of England Tracey Lambert said: "Every worker deserves financial security in their retirement and staff shouldn't be encouraged to put short-term gain ahead of long-term security.

"It's morally wrong to condemn a generation of mainly female staff to poverty in their old age."