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| Version 4 | Version 5 |
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| Fresh squeeze on NHS pay sparks union strike warning | Fresh squeeze on NHS pay sparks union strike warning |
| (36 minutes later) | |
| NHS staff have been told they will get a below-inflation 1% pay rise next year - but not if they are due to get an annual "progression pay" increase. | NHS staff have been told they will get a below-inflation 1% pay rise next year - but not if they are due to get an annual "progression pay" increase. |
| About 400 top NHS managers will not get either a progression pay rise or 1%. | About 400 top NHS managers will not get either a progression pay rise or 1%. |
| Minister Danny Alexander said pay restraint was helping the public finances. But the Unite and GMB unions said they would consult members on taking industrial action. | Minister Danny Alexander said pay restraint was helping the public finances. But the Unite and GMB unions said they would consult members on taking industrial action. |
| The Armed Forces, prison officers and judges will also get 1% increases. | The Armed Forces, prison officers and judges will also get 1% increases. |
| Unison's Christina McAnea said it was a "disgrace that 70% of nurses and midwives will not even get a pay rise this year". | |
| 'Very modest' | |
| She also accused the government of conflating annual pay rises with the progression pay increments. | |
| "Increments are designed to reflect the growing skills and experience of nurses and other healthcare workers and are closely linked to competency," she said. | |
| "They are not a substitute for the annual pay rise that is needed to meet the increasing cost of living. | |
| "If the government is set on imposing this change, it clearly doesn't understand how increments work. As it stands, they save the NHS money but if this divisive plan goes ahead Unison will be arguing strongly that staff should be paid the full rate for the job from day one. | |
| "I am appalled that this coalition government can openly boast about the economic recovery and claim that we are all feeling the benefits and then treat health workers so shoddily." | |
| But Chief Secretary to the Treasury Mr Alexander claimed that the progression pay increases were often worth 3% to 4% and were awarded simply "because of time served in the job". | |
| "The extra 1% should be confined to those who otherwise wouldn't see any pay rise at all," he told the BBC. | |
| "That's what the country can afford." | |
| He conceded this was a "very modest increase", but added: "We had two years of a pay freeze, where people who worked for the government didn't get any pay rise at all - except those who receive these increments, who continued to get those even during the years of the pay freeze." | |
| Pay restraint had to be a "big part" of resolving the "huge financial problems we have as a country", he added. | |
| '£1bn shortfall' | '£1bn shortfall' |
| Separately, Mr Alexander also announced that government departments were not contributing enough to their employee's pension funds. | Separately, Mr Alexander also announced that government departments were not contributing enough to their employee's pension funds. |
| A detailed review of NHS, teachers' and civil service pension schemes is not due to be published until later in the spring, he said. | A detailed review of NHS, teachers' and civil service pension schemes is not due to be published until later in the spring, he said. |
| "But it is already clear that these will show the level of contributions paid by employers have not been sufficient to meet the full long term costs of these schemes. | "But it is already clear that these will show the level of contributions paid by employers have not been sufficient to meet the full long term costs of these schemes. |
| "If current rates were allowed to continue the shortfall would be nearly £1 billion a year across the teachers, civil service and NHS schemes. | "If current rates were allowed to continue the shortfall would be nearly £1 billion a year across the teachers, civil service and NHS schemes. |
| "The government is therefore taking corrective action, and will introduce new higher employer contribution rates for these schemes from 2015. This will ensure that the contributions paid by public service employers reflect the full costs of the schemes, including the costs of the deficits that have arisen since previous valuations. | "The government is therefore taking corrective action, and will introduce new higher employer contribution rates for these schemes from 2015. This will ensure that the contributions paid by public service employers reflect the full costs of the schemes, including the costs of the deficits that have arisen since previous valuations. |
| "This will not have any impact on existing pensioners, on member benefits, or on the contributions paid by employees in those schemes. Instead it will ensure that pension costs are properly met by employers and do not fall as an additional cost to the taxpayer." | "This will not have any impact on existing pensioners, on member benefits, or on the contributions paid by employees in those schemes. Instead it will ensure that pension costs are properly met by employers and do not fall as an additional cost to the taxpayer." |
| Mr Alexander said it would be left to individual departments to decide whether to offer senior civil servants the 1% pay rise. | |
| Police and Crime Commissioners are not due to receive the pay increase. | |
| Salaries for police officers, council workers and teachers are determined in a separate process. |