Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the pay freeze on long-term retention rates for NHS nurses and support staff.

For just two years (2011/2012 and 2012/2013) most public sector, including National Health Service staff were subject to a pay freeze. Staff earning £21,000 or less were excluded from the pay freeze and received a consolidated payment of £250.00 in each year.

Over the following three years (2013/2014 to 2015/2016) all employed NHS staff received at least 1% in consolidated or non-consolidated pay increases.

In addition to consolidated and non-consolidated pay increases, over the last five years, just over half of all employed NHS staff also received incremental pay at an average of over 3% each year.

Over the last five years, the NHS Pay Review Body which makes pay recommendations to government for non-medical NHS staff (which includes nurses and support staff) did not identify any significant recruitment and retention issues for nurses or support staff.

Since May 2010 there are 7,140 more nurses and midwives, an increase of 2.3%.

At a time of difficult decisions, the Government’s pay policy will help to ensure the NHS workforce is affordable and protect jobs.