NHS workers suffer real-wage cuts
On 20 July the government made awards in line with the NHS Pay Review Board’s recommendations. They are real-wage cuts which erode workers’ situation and do nothing to redress recent years of real-wage reduction or overcome the 10% vacancy rate in the NHS. The award increases the overall pay bill for workers under Agenda for Change (AfC: the big majority of directly-employed NHS workers) by an average of 4.8% across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while prices are rising at 10% or more. It is also comes with an overall NHS budget set to allow only 3% rises . The award is a £1,400...