Sheffield Council backs calls for 15 percent NHS pay rise

Sheffield Labour put forward a motion thanking key workers and highlighting steps the council will take to support them in a recent full council meeting.

Sheffield Green Party submitted an amendment to this that went further by stating support for the demands of NHS Workers Say No to Public Sector Pay Inequality and Nurses United campaigns, which was passed through without objection.

As well as a restorative 15 percent pay rise for health and care workers on Agenda for Change contracts, the amendment called for outsourced services in the NHS to be brought back-in house and for the council to write to the government and pay review body to meet the demands.

Councillor Martin Phipps, who proposed the amendment, said: “Our key workers in the NHS and care sector have gone above and beyond in the last year. They deserve more than just claps and thanks, they deserve a restorative pay rise to address the real term cuts of the last 11 years.

“Health and social care workers are crucial to our society, and many people of Sheffield and the UK can thank their lives and well-being of their friends and family to them. Workers have suffered from scarring from PPE, have been infected with Covid-19 and have been separated from their families to care for ours. “In Sheffield in particular I think that really rings home, with so many residents in Sheffield working in the NHS and care sector, the NHS being Sheffield’s biggest employer and our universities training thousands of NHS professionals.”

In the motion, Labour said: “[We] believe that all our workers are public service super-heroes – they keep our communities clean and safe, look after those in need and keep our towns and cities running, and without the professionalism and dedication of staff, the council services our residents rely on would not be deliverable.”

It added that the council will commit to writing to the chancellor and secretary of state to call for a pay increase for local government workers to be funded with new money from central government.