‘Up in arms’

Unite has called on private companies and the Department of Health to give workers indirectly employed by the NHS the same pay increase as NHS employees.

More than 1m health workers are to receive a pay rise worth 6.5 per cent for most staff over the next three years. Thousands of low paid NHS employees are being offered a pay rise of over ÂŁ2000 a year in cash terms in the first year of the deal. But thousands of NHS workers, many of whom are low paid, have been excluded from the deal because they are indirectly employed by the NHS.

Outsourced service providers are due to meet with the Department of Health tomorrow (June 13) to discuss pay for workers indirectly employed by the NHS. Unite has written to employers providing services to the NHS, including Serco, ISS, Compass and Sodexo to urge them to implement the NHS framework as a minimum, in order to eliminate low pay and aid recruitment and retention.

Low paid NHS workers employed by Serco at Barts NHS Trust, the largest Trust in Britain, are campaigning to reverse the private contractor’s refusal to fund a pay rise which mirrors the pay deal offered to NHS employees.

“Excluding indirectly employed NHS workers from the new pay deal is unjust,” said Unite national officer Colenzo Jarrett –Thorpe. “It will be a disaster for morale with thousands of low paid NHS workers being made to feel like the poor relations of NHS employees.

“Thousands of low paid workers at Barts NHS Trust, the biggest Trust in Britain, are already up in arms over being excluded from the deal and more workers from other Trusts could follow. Regardless of whether an NHS worker is employed by a private company or the NHS, they are still health workers and their contribution to patient’s health must be recognised.”