Bankers’ pay has risen more than three times as fast as nurses’ pay since the 2008 financial crisis, according to an analysis by the TUC, which said low paid nurses are being forced to rely on handouts from food banks.
The unions’ umbrella body said pay and bonuses for those working in the finance and the insurance sector had risen by an average of 6% a year in nominal terms – without taking inflation into account – since 2008 compared with a rise of less than 2% a year for nurses, midwives, and paramedics.
On average nurses now earn £32,934 a year according to the TUC, up from £26,123 in 2008. This compares with average pay of £80,390 for those employed in finance and insurance sectors, a near-doubling of their average 2008 pay of £43,901.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said it could not be morally right that “nurses are having to use food banks to get by, while bankers are allowed to help themselves to unlimited bumper bonuses”.
“At a time when ministers are telling dedicated public servants they can’t have a pay rise, they’re letting City executives take home ever bigger sums,” he said. “This all boils down to political choices. Ministers could be taxing wealth and giving all of our public sector workers a decent pay rise.
“But instead, they are choosing to inflict more pay misery on our nurses, paramedics and midwives.
“Let’s be clear. Without decent pay rises, many more of our dedicated key workers in the public sector will vote with their feet and leave their professions for good.”
The TUC said the government’s failure to increase nurses’ pay in line with inflation had left them facing a £42,000 loss in real earnings since 2008. That figure is even higher for midwives and paramedics, who are said to be facing an estimated loss of £56,000.
The union body said striking health workers have been “forced to take action to defend their living standards” after more than a decade of real-terms pay cuts.
It comes as bankers celebrate record-breaking bonuses. Separate analysis by the TUC found that bonuses in finance and the insurance sector have reached a record £20,000 a year on average – which it said was almost one-and-a-half times the average pay collected by teaching assistants.
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The TUC found that average City bonuses increased by 101% in cash terms between 2008 and 2022. It estimates the latest annual bonus pot (2022) for workers in the finance and insurance sector is £18.7bn.
The Conservative government lifted the cap on bankers’ bonuses in September, allowing bankers to “help themselves” to unlimited payouts, the TUC said.
Under the previous policy, an employee’s bonus could be no bigger than 100% of their annual pay, or 200% if approved by shareholders.
