Health Professions: Pay

(asked on 14th December 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average salary was of a (a) nurse, (b) midwife and (c) health visitor in (i) the latest period for which figures are available and (ii) each year since 1997.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 22nd December 2017

Overall averages can mask the earning experience of National Health Service staff.

In our evidence to the NHS Pay Review body for the 2017/2018 pay round we presented evidence of a longitudinal study of pay for staff who were employed in both March 2010 and March 2015. This took account of promotions and incremental pay as well as cost of living increases; so reflected the actual earnings experience of those staff. Over that period the median increase in earnings for nurses and midwives was 2.2% per annum. This compared with Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation of 2.4% per annum on average. So over that period the earnings of 50% of nurses and midwives who were continually employed kept broadly at least in line with CPI inflation.

A typical Agenda for Change Band 5 nurse can expect incremental pay points worth £936 or 3.8% on average each year on top of annual pay awards. Around half of NHS staff receive annual increments of around 3% a year on average on top of their annual pay rise.

- A new nurse in 2010 would have started on a salary of around £25,500;

- After tax and national insurance, this comes to around £19,500; and

- In general, they would have had seven years of progression pay averaging over 3% per year on top of any cost of living increase.

This means that this year their salary would be around £34,500. And thanks to the increases to the personal allowance, this comes to just over £26,500 after tax and national insurance – over £7,000 more than in 2010, and a real terms increase of 18.9%.

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