- Conference
- 2014 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 7 December 2013
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the difference between the highest and lowest paid is increasing year on year. Each year the pay divide gets greater and our members feel that the cost of living increase is no longer fit for purpose.
An increase of just 1% each year is actually a decrease in real terms, as the cost of living is increasing at a rate of at least 3% year on year. The average NHS Band 1/2 worker has lost approximately 8 to 12% in real terms over a four year period, and this equates to a real term loss of 16% in living standards. This is all since the rise of the Coalition government who states that ‘we are all in this together’.
These attacks are particularly bad for our members in Cambridgeshire as house and rental prices are higher than the national average. The effect of this is an increase in the number of people being forced to live further away from their workplace, to be isolated and struggle with the cost of day-to-day living.
Conference calls on the Health Service Group Executive to campaign against this injustice. At a time when the government says there is no money for pay rises, MPs are to receive a 7% increase which they say they have to accept. A 7% pay raise would dramatically help NHS workers to redress this injustice of low pay rises.
At the time of writing this motion it is yet to be determined if NHS workers are to receive any pay increases in 2014/2015.
Conference calls on the Health Service Group Executive to put a stop to this divide and restore some dignity to low paid workers within the NHS.