by René Lavanchy
National Health Service chief executive David Nicholson faced a barrage of opposition this week from health service unions after he was reported as suggesting that the NHS might have to accept a pay rise ceiling of less than one per cent in the next three years.
Mr Nicholson made the comments just as the NHS’ pay review body confirmed that staff will receive a minimum 2.25 per cent pay rise next year, in line with the three-year pay deal agreed in 2008.
The Financial Times reported Mr Nicholson as believing that if the NHS were to save billions without sacrificing quality of service, “there has to be massive pay restraint, possibly below the 1 per cent cap on public sector pay that the Chancellor announced this week.” He added that every extra 1 per cent on pay was worth 10,000 NHS jobs.
This week, three unions speaking through Tribune called on Mr Nicholson to respect the pay review body’s independence and not seek to impose a deal, while Unison said it would be “seeking clarification”.
Karen Reay, national officer for health at Unite, said: “Our union has a very clear stance on this. We will be in the third year of a pay deal and we expect that to be honoured. He can say those things but what’s the point of having an independent pay review body?”
However, she suggested that unions may have to accept much lower pay rises than in the past: “I think our members are very aware of the financial constraint.” The union would have to be flexible: “I think it would be unrealistic if we weren’t. That’s not saying we would just agree to whatever’s put there.”
Karen Jennings, Unison’s health of health, commented: “In the health service we’ve got a tried and tested mechanism for determining pay which has kept industrial peace since the 1980s.
“The pay review body looks at indicators such as inflation and the economy. We’re quite clear across the fifteen [Labour-affiliated] trade unions that our preferred method of determining pay is the pay review body.
“Normally announcements about pay are not made in that way. We would be seeking to have clarification with ministers on the remarks.”
Jon Skewes of the Royal Colllege of Midwives agreed: “We recognise that we are in tough economic times, but we must see the independence of the pay review body process maintained. Neither the Government nor NHS senior managers should be pre-empting it.”
The Department of Health had not commented as Tribune went to press.
