NHS workers deserve a proper pay rise

With the NHS three-year pay deal nearing its end, Unite is working together with our sister health unions to put pressure on the government to provide the funding for a fair and early pay rise for all NHS staff– including the many domestics, catering workers, security guards and other support staff working for outsourced companies.

The joint unions, including Unite, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives, GMB, UNISON and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy have written to the prime minister and the chancellor calling for ‘pay talks to start soon so that you and your colleagues get a pay boost before the end of the year.’ You’ll keep you posted.

Please take a minute to write to your MP. Tell them what’s it’s been like to work during the worse health crisis in modern times and how you feel about not getting the pay rise recognition, despite all you and your colleagues have done. Demand that they support our calls for pay talks to start soon.

‘Shocked to the core’ and ‘disgusted’ is how one Unite member described learning that she and her colleagues were not part of the government’s public sector pay rise plans. How do you feel?

Your personal experiences are powerful, make sure to use them when writing to your MP.

1. You’ve earned it – NHS workers have battled on the Covid-19 frontline, worked over a million hours of unpaid overtime and risked your lives to save ours. You deserve better than 1%.

2. We can afford it – This government has spent billions of taxpayers' money on failing contracts, so we know it can afford to do better by our NHS workers.

3. A decade of pay cuts and pay freezes – Pay for many NHS staff has fallen by 19 per cent in real terms since 2010. A 15% pay rise or £3,000 is affordable and will go some way to undoing the damage done.

4. You spend locally – a proper NHS pay rise will help our communities recover. Giving NHS staff a substantial pay rise will boost spending in every community in every part of the UK, providing much needed revenue for our country’s struggling shops and restaurants.

5. Too many healthcare workers are leaving – forced out of the job you love because of low pay, stress, long shifts and the treatment you received during Covid. Overstretched and undervalued, you deserve so much better than this.