Nurses to protest over 1% cap on public sector pay

Thousands of nurses are expected to call on the
Government to end the 1% cap on public sector pay
at a demonstration in Parliament Square later.
The protest is the culmination of a summer of action
by members of the Royal College of Nursing who say
that seven years of pay restraint has led to a real-
terms pay cut of 14% and could threaten patient
safety.
The demonstration comes in the week of fresh
reports that the Government is considering ending
pay restraint this autumn.
The Prime Minister's spokeswoman did not deny
reports that the process for reversing a policy that
has held for seven years is under way.
Pay review bodies will receive guidance letters from
the Treasury in the coming weeks which may give
them leeway to recommend increases in line with
inflation in time for the Budget.
Such a move could cost the Government up to £8bn
a year.
Public sector unions have warned that as a result of
the pay cap morale in the health service is
dangerously low, with some nurses forced to take
second jobs or use hardship funds and food banks to
make ends meet.
They also say pay is contributing to an ongoing
recruitment and retention crisis in the NHS, which
currently has 40,000 vacancies for nurses.
Nurses say the cap has resulted in real time pay
cuts of 14%
The RCN says its members' concerns are echoed by
patients. In new polling conducted by YouGov seven
out of 10 said they believe the NHS lacks adequate
nursing staff.
A similar proportion believes nurses are underpaid for
their work, including a majority of Conservative
voters.
Janet Davies, Chief Executive and General Secretary
of the RCN, said: "The public can see the shortage of
nurses for themselves. Ministers are significantly out
of touch with public opinion. They should heed this
warning, scrap the pay cap and help to recruit
thousands more nurses for a safer NHS."
Senior ministers including Health Secretary Jeremy
Hunt, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Boris
Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, have all hinted at
support for an end to the cap.
Conservative MP Maria Caulfield, a former nurse, told
Sky News that the cap should be lifted, but hinted
that a gradual process beginning with the least well-
paid may be adopted.
"While we don't want to go on a public spending
spree I think it's about priorities and I think seven
years after the pay freeze we need to say to frontline
staff, and it's not just nurses it's teachers, it's police
officers, that they have carried these services
through a tough time and there are ways of doing it.
"You don't have to blanket lift a pay cap, there are
ways of targeting those who carried the service, are
at the frontline."
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour shadow health secretary,
called for an immediate end to the cap.
"If Theresa May wanted to lift the pay cap she could
stand up at the Despatch Box today and do it. If they
can find £1bn for the DUP so that they can win their
votes in Parliament then they should find the money
for our hard-working public sector workers."

Tweet