Oliver Dowden says it ‘won’t be easy’ to fund estimated £1.5bn offer for nurses and ambulance staff
A breakthrough pay rise offer for nurses and ambulance workers may have to be funded within the existingFooting the bill – estimated to be about £1.5bn – “won’t be easy”, according to Oliver Dowden, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster.
Members of six unions, including the Royal College of Nursing, will be balloted on the offer of a one-off 2% salary uplift and 4% Covid recovery bonus for the current year, and then a permanent 5% pay rise from April. Dowden, who played a key role in coordinating the government’s response to strikes, told Sky News: “Finding this money is not easy. But we think that in this context of ensuring that we reward nurses properly and we prevent disruption, that we can find the money to do this but it won’t be easy.”
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