Ex-Army generals have urged the Chancellor to reward frontline NHS workers with cash bonuses as a thank you for risking their lives in the war against Covid-19.
General Lord Richard Dannatt and ex-chief of the Defence Staff General Lord David Richards backed calls for nurses, doctors and care workers to be granted a tax-free allowance, similar to operational allowances given to those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As of last month, soldiers deployed to the most dangerous regions get a daily tax-free payment of £29.02 on top of their wages for six months, according to the MOD.
The salary of an NHS health care assistant starts at £18,000 to £19,400 depending on their experience, with nurses’ wages starting at less than £25,000 a year.
General Lord Richard Dannatt (left) and ex-chief of the Defence Staff General Lord David Richards (right) backed calls for nurses, doctors and care workers to be granted a tax-free allowance
The salary of an NHS health care assistant starts at £18,000 to £19,400 depending on their experience, with nurses’ wages starting at less than £25,000 a year (pictured in Manchester during the minute’s silence on Thursday)
Lord Dannatt told the Sunday Mirror: ‘All the talk is about our heroic NHS and care workers on the front line, just as we talked about our brave men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.
‘But the difference is we gave our soldiers an extra daily allowance to fight on our behalf, so why are we not doing the same on the NHS and care front line?’
Lord Richards added: ‘One good thing to come out of the pandemic is the chance for us all to pause and rethink what is important.
‘Those that genuinely serve and sometimes risk their lives for their country must go much higher up the list of those we value most – whether nurses, doctors, soldiers or care workers.’
The calls come two days after Wales’s First Minister announced care workers in Wales will each receive a £500 bonus to reflect their ‘value’ during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mark Drakeford said the payments would be made to around 64,000 care home workers and domiciliary care workers who provide the ‘scaffolding’ of services across the country.
He told the Welsh Government’s daily Covid-19 briefing on Friday: ‘This payment is designed to provide some further recognition of the value we attach to everything they are doing.’
Care workers in Wales will each receive a £500 bonus to reflect their ‘value’ during the coronavirus pandemic, the First Minister has announced. Pictured: Staff at Morel Court care home in Penarth, South Wales, join in the weekly ‘clap for carers’ on Thursday
Mark Drakeford said the payments would be made to around 64,000 care home workers and domiciliary care workers who provide the ‘scaffolding’ of services across the country
The move follows the announcement from the Scottish government last month that all care workers in Scottish care workers are to be given a 3.3 per cent pay rise in recognition of their role in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care and its counterpart in Northern Ireland have not announced a similar bonus or pay rise for English or Northern Irish care workers.
This is despite calls last month from union leaders and a leading care home provider for staff to be given a pay rise.
Mr Drakeford added of Welsh care workers: ‘This group of people, usually women, often not well paid, are providing the invisible scaffolding of services which support both our NHS and our wider society.
‘Without this small army of people, large numbers of others would not be able to continue to live independently at home, or receive everyday support with basic needs by living in a residential care home.’
Mr Drakeford noted some of the social care workforce were among the lowest paid in Wales, and that the picture contrasted with the Welsh NHS where there are pay bands and salaries paid are of the living wage or above.
He also called on the UK Government to waive tax and national insurance deductions from the one-off payment, on the basis the country was experiencing ‘exceptional circumstances’.
Local authorities are expected to administer the payments but no date was given as to when they will be made.
The Department of Health and Social Care and the Northern Irish department of health have been approached for comment.
Last month, St John Care Trust, which operates 70 care homes in the UK, wrote to care minister Helen Whateley to ask the Government to fund a new £11.50 hourly minimum wage for social care workers during the COVID-19 panedmic.
The move follows the announcement from the Scottish government last month that all care workers in Scottish care workers are to be given a 3.3 per cent pay rise in recognition of their role in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictured: Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
The median pay rate for a care worker in the independent sector is £8.10 per hour, according to Skills for Care.
But Health Secretary Matt Hancock said ‘now is not the moment to enter a pay negotiation’ when he was asked by BBC journalist Andrew Marr if nurses should be given a pay rise amid the coronavirus crisis.
He said: ‘Well, look, everybody wants to support our nurses right now and I’m sure that there will be a time to debate things like that.
‘At the moment the thing that we’re working on is how to get through this. And so you know I’m very sympathetic to that argument, but now is not the moment to enter into a pay negotiation.
‘Now is the moment for everybody to be doing their very best.’