UK body to recommend 4-5% pay rise for 1.5 million health workers – Guardian

LONDON (Reuters) – British public-sector well being staff ought to obtain an annual pay rise of 4-5% this 12 months, a authorities advisory physique plans to advocate, in response to a report within the Guardian newspaper on Saturday.

Surging shopper worth inflation, which hit a 40-year excessive of 9.1% in Might, means staff are pushing for larger than regular pay rises, and there have been widespread strikes in Britain’s privately operated rail business over the previous week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stated pay restraint within the public sector is required to save cash and cut back the chance of a longer-term inflationary spiral.

Common pay excluding bonuses within the public sector within the three months to April was up by an annual 1.8%, in contrast with 4.8% within the non-public sector, official figures present.

The Guardian stated the Nationwide Well being Service Pay Evaluation Physique – a panel that makes annual pay suggestions to the federal government – would advocate a rise of “someplace between 4% and 5%”.

The physique, which usually makes its annual advice in July, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Final 12 months it proposed a 3% pay rise, which the federal government accepted.

It suggestions cowl most employees apart from docs, dentists and senior managers in Britain’s Nationwide Well being Service, totalling nearly 1.5 million staff.

In a submission to the evaluate physique in February, the well being ministry stated it had a set finances to final till 2025, and that there have been “stark trade-offs between pay and different NHS spending” comparable to staffing ranges and medical gear.

($1 = 0.8155 kilos)

(Reporting by David Milliken; enhancing by John Stonestreet)