It has been reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak will avoid any announcement on pay rises for NHS staff in his Budget next week.

Citing senior sources from the Treasury, i newspaper reports that Sunak will not make any decisions on salaries for health workers as he is awaiting the NHS Pay Review Body’s report in May. This means that it could take months to make any decision on pay rises for workers.

Sara Gordon, head of health at Unison, said that the government has had ‘ample opportunity’ to decide on ‘early and significant’ pay rises for burnt-out staff who have been working flat out during the coronavirus crisis. She also warned that without a pay rise, there would be ‘an exodus of employees from an already understaffed health service’.

Unison has been campaigning for a £2,000 pay rise for NHS staff to ensure all staff are ‘recognised equally’.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commented: “Our NHS staff deserve a fair pay rise. If Rishi Sunak next week refuses it will be kick in the teeth to our brave hardworking NHS heroes.”