PDA Union has today reacted to press reports that the 2021 NHS Pay increase is to be limited to 1% and calls on the Independent Pay Review Body (IPRB) that advises Government on NHS Pay to show its independence of Government and reflect the need to ensure NHS workers are treated with the same dignity and respect on pay that they have shown to their patients throughout the pandemic.
Paul Moloney, PDA Union National Officer, commented. “After months of Ministers clapping on their doorsteps and labelling NHS workers as heroes, today’s press reports that the Government have advised the Independent Pay Review Body that Treasury wishes to limit NHS pay increases to 1% claiming anything more is unaffordable, is deeply disappointing.
PDA members across the NHS will be rightly angered by this, as will all NHS employees and the general public who recognise the commitment, skill, professionalism, hard work and care shown by our members and all NHS workers.
We will make sure the voices of our members working in the NHS are heard in the coming weeks as part of the campaign to reverse this decision.
We need to show the Government that in fact the country cannot afford to treat NHS workers in this way, and it should allow the IPRB to do its job and make recommendations that are fair, affordable and in the long term interests of the NHS, its patients and its workforce.”
The process now is that the IPRB will consider all of the submissions made, the Treasury submission is just one of those and carries no greater importance than any of the others. The PDA are therefore calling on the IPRB to remember what it is required to do which is to take account of the following when making recommendations:
the need to recruit, retain and motivate suitably able and qualified staff;
regional/local variations in labour markets and their effects on the recruitment and retention of staff;
the overall strategy that the NHS should place patients at the heart of all it does and the mechanisms by which that is to be achieved.
The Review Body may also be asked to consider other specific issues.
Unfortunately, the PDA are well aware that in the past the IPRB has been heavily influenced by the Treasury affordability statement, but these are unique times, and the PDA call upon the IPRB to factor into its recommendations these other factors, all of which will be adversely impacted if NHS workers receive such a low increase.
The PDA are also calling on the IPRB to consider the specific issue of the pandemic, as it is required to do, and to make a recommendation that reflects the unparalleled commitment shown by everyone in healthcare.
The PDA Union does not underestimate the impact of the Treasury statement, but believes the IPRB will take all issues into account and make an appropriate recommendation to Government. It will then be for Government to decide whether to accept the advice of the experts or reject it. At that point, goverenment should recall that the last national NHS strike, in 2014, happened because government ignored the recommendation of the IPRB at that time. The government were eventually forced to implement the recommendation in order to end the strike.