Ministers drop demand that NHS staff give up day’s leave for pay rise

Former ‘red line’ abandoned in hope of getting salary package approved by union members

The government has abandoned plans to force 1 million NHS staff to give up a day’s holiday in return for a salary increase that will mark the end of a pay cap that has existed since 2010.

Ministers have stopped insisting on an extra day’s work a year as a precondition of a deal that, if accepted, will give health service personnel in England a 6.5% rise over the next three years. Details of the package are due to emerge on Wednesday after months of talks between the government and leaders of 14 trade unions representing all non-medical NHS staff.

Related: The NHS pay deal is just another cut, and an insult to overworked staff | Owen Jones

Related: Patient safety hit by lack of staff, warn 80% of NHS workers

Continue reading... March 21, 2018 at 05:42AM