Mobile billboard protest in Salford over controversial 1% NHS pay increase.

Granada
Saturday 6 March 2021 at 3:19pm

A mobile billboard criticising the controversial 1% pay rise being offered to NHS staff in the North West has appeared outside the Salford Royal Hospital. Credit: ITV

A mobile billboard criticising the controversial 1% pay rise being offered to NHS staff in the North West has appeared outside the Salford Royal Hospital.

The picture, which credits the Royal College of Nursing, reads: ''Look them in the eyes and tell them they're only worth an extra £3.50 a week'', in an apparent parody based on the Government's "Stay at Home" campaign.

Giant billboard parked outside Salford Royal Hospital Credit: ITV

It comes as the Government is being challenged by the organisation representing NHS Trusts in England over its defence of the pay offer.

NHS Providers said detailed work had been conducted by the NHS around implementing a long-term plan in which it claimed the Government assumed an NHS pay rise in 2021/22 of 2.1%, not 1%.

Deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: “Some will think that the Government is snatching planned pay rises from the pockets of deserving NHS staff so they don’t have to fund the extra costs of Covid-19, which the Chancellor personally committed he would meet.”

She says that it is demotivating for staff who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic.

The NHS has been on the front line of the fight against Covid-19. Credit: PA

A Government spokesman said more than one million NHS staff continued to benefit from multi-year pay deals agreed with trade unions, which had delivered a pay rise of over 12% for newly-qualified nurses and will increase junior doctors’ pay scales by 8.2%.

He added: “Pay rises in the rest of the public sector will be paused this year due to the challenging economic environment, but we will continue to provide pay rises for NHS workers, on top of a £513 million investment in professional development and increased recruitment.

“That’s with record numbers of doctors and 10,600 more nurses working in our NHS, and with nursing university applications up by over a third.

“The independent pay review bodies will report in late spring and we will consider their recommendations carefully when we receive them.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock during a media briefing in Downing Street. Credit: PA

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told a press conference on Friday evening that NHS staff had been “carved out” of a pay freeze affecting other public sector employees, and that the Government had to take affordability into account when considering pay.

He said: “We have set out what is affordable given the very significant challenges in public finances.”