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From London to Berlin Covid opened the treasury doors to cronyism, theft and corruption

Paul Knaggs
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From London to Berlin Covid opened the treasury doors to cronyism, theft and corruption

Why do some politicians see this pandemic as an excuse to dip their sticky fingers in the public coffers, where is the scrutiny?

From PPE to testing kits, the government has outsourced billions of pounds’ worth of contracts to firms connected to the Tory party, many of which lacked relevant experience.

Recent revelations by the Good Law Project have highlighted a number of potential irregularities in the awarding of public contracts for PPE by the UK government amid the pandemic. Leaked documents show that a number of lucrative contracts to provide PPE to the National Health Service were awarded to companies that had only been established a few weeks earlier. In other cases, public contracts were awarded to companies with dubious financial credibility.

The common factor in all the cases was the existence of personal ties between the companies and the ruling Conservative party. Indeed, there is evidence to suggest, according to the Good Law Project, that the government provided special procurement channels for ‘VIPs’ and government contacts, and that successful contractors were guided through the process by the Cabinet Office.

Questions have also been raised regarding possible favouritism in the involvement of Serco, the private company that was first awarded a £108 million contract in public money for contact-tracing App, after a leaked email showed that the company had been approached as early as January 2020 and was awarded the contract without it being put to an open tender process.

The initial £108 million contract true cost is more eye-watering. The small print of Rishi Sunak’s budget shows the system is to get another £15 billion cash injection, bringing its total cost to £37 billion.

Running the ‘Serco track and trace’ Baroness Harding  – a Conservative peer and member of the House of Lords and head of the government’s track-and-trace system she has also come in for heavy criticism for her awarding of lucrative public contracts without competitive tendering, especially as the failure of the flagship test-and-trace system becomes increasingly apparent.

You may well ask where is the scrutiny, where are the watchers?

Dido Harding is married to Conservative MP John Penrose, the so-called who is the government’s Anti-Corruption Champion.

Who is our Anti-Corruption Champion? John Penrose MP is married to Baroness Dido Harding, Chair of NHS Improvement and NHS Test and Trace. He sits on the advisory board of a think tank called 1828, which calls for the NHS to be replaced by an insurance system and for Public Health England to be scrapped.

One article authored by 1828’s co-founders argued Britain should be “bold and progressive” – scrapping the NHS in favour of a system where people pay for insurance either through private firms or a government scheme.

It said: “With a social health insurance system, you don’t need the state to own or subsidise hospitals, or to control policy from the centre; you simply need it to regulate the system to a satisfactory degree.”

Even before the pandemic, the government spent an extraordinary £292bn on outsourcing in 2018-19. This amounted to more than a third of all public spending in a single year, and that level is rising year on year. It’s only fair that the taxpayers who are paying for these contracts can scrutinise them.

But the companies that run so many public services too often hide behind the smokescreen of “commercial sensitivity”.

How our public money is spent should be transparent and open to scrutiny no matter the circumstances.

From bad to worst: The Department of Health granted a £90million deal with a firm that’s listed address is a Chinese hotel room

Guobin Hotel in Beijing

London- The Department of Health (DHSC) sign’s two PPE deals worth more than £90 million with a state-backed Chinese firm listed at a hotel room in Beijing.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) struck two lucrative contracts during the first coronavirus wave with Beijing Union Glory Investment Co Ltd, whose address is listed as Room 9401A, Guobin Hotel, No9 Fuwai Street, Xicheng District, the Metro reports.

The largest amount was £69.9million, paid for surgical theatre gowns in a contract signed in May 2020. Under the terms, 70% of the contracts were to be paid by transfer through China Everbright Bank within three working days of the deal being struck.

A second contract for gowns worth £26.4million was signed in April with similar down-payment terms, except this time a payment had to be made within two working days. This purchase was made for the British Embassy in Beijing on behalf of the UK government.

The Metro said the closest hotel was the opulent Presidential Beijing, also known as the Guobin, which lies in the business district, although the postcode is a few digits different.

MP Matt Western said companies that repurposed their operations to respond to the pandemic have been dealt a “kick in the teeth” after being overlooked in favour of contractors in China and Turkey.

Western, who represents Warwick and Leamington, said: “I have called for the firms in my constituency – and others across the UK that suffered financially after being overlooked for PPE contracts – to be reimbursed by the government and prioritised for any future NHS contracts.

“The secretive big money deals reached with foreign firms like Beijing Union Glory in China is a kick in the teeth for them.

Matt Hancock acted unlawfully by failing to publish Covid contracts

The High Court ruled last month that Matt Hancock had acted unlawfully by failing to publish information on multibillion-pound government Covid contracts awarded throughout the pandemic within the 30-day period required by law.

An order handed down by the court last week confirmed that only 608 out of 708 relevant contracts had been published and reiterated that, in some or all of these cases, the Health Secretary had acted unlawfully.

It looks for all intents and purposes that this covid crisis has been cover for politicians, friends and family to dip their fingers into the public money.

When the pandemic exploded in March 2020, British officials embarked on a desperate scramble to procure the personal protective equipment, ventilators, coronavirus tests and other supplies critical to containing the surge. In the months following those fevered days, the government handed out thousands of contracts to fight the virus.

The UK government handed contracts worth at least £1.7bn to private companies in the first three months, mostly without a competitive tender or any form of due diligence.

Billions going to start-up company’s that have no track record and cannot produce the results the contracts require.

OpenDemocracy reported on a small, loss-making firm run by a Conservative councillor in Stroud was given a £156m contract to import PPE from China without any competition.

Steve Dechan’s company, P14 Medical, signed the huge contract to supply medical gowns in May, even though the firm suffered significant financial losses in 2019, and its previous track record in PPE procurement is unclear. Transparency campaigners say the deal “reeks of cronyism”.

Dechan, who stood down from Stroud town council in late August, had previously made headlines when it emerged that P14 Medical had landed a contract worth almost £120m to supply face shields to the Department of Health and Social Care.

It also emerged that a company run by the former business associate of Tory peer Baroness Mone won a £122m contract to supply PPE to the NHS just seven weeks after it was set up.

Previously a firm co-owned by a Conservative donor that supplied beauty products to high street chains was given a £65m contract to provide face masks to the NHS.

The company that supplied 50 million faulty face masks to the UK

Meanwhile, Ayanda Capital, a private equity company, was handed a £252m contract to provide face masks that were subsequently not used, after concerns were raised that they may not provide an “adequate fixing” around the face. The deal was brokered by an advisor to International Trade secretary Liz Truss who was also a senior board advisor at Ayanda.

Ayanda Capital supplied Fifty million face masks secured by the government as part of the £252m contract that can not be used in the NHS over safety fears.

The masks use ear-loop fastenings rather than head loops, which means they may not fit tightly enough to be effective.

Jolyon Maugham QC runs a not-for-profit group seeking a judicial review of many of the government’s PPE deals, and said the fact that a £250m PPE contract has gone to “an opaque family fund owned through a tax haven” poses “serious questions about how this Government has gone about procuring protective equipment.”

“Enormous sums of public money have been dished out on the basis of a highly unusual process that breaks all the normal procurement rules. To protect public funds and to try and prevent further PPE procurement failures, we intend to get answers.”

Does Ayanda evade tax?

That’s not to mention that Ayanda is ultimately owned through an offshore holding firm based in the tax haven of Mauritius.

However, it has disputed any allegations of tax wrongdoing and told iNews it pays its taxes in the UK.

Transparency International’s senior research manager Steve Goodrich told openDemocracy: ‘When one politically-connected company is awarded uncompetitive public contracts it smells a bit off, but when this happens again and again it reeks of cronyism.

“Continuing to award major public contracts without competitive tender fuels the perception that political patronage matters more than suitability for the job. In order to ensure best value for money is being secured, the government should return to open, competitive tendering in all but the most exceptional cases.”

At least seven contracts each worth more than £100m have been awarded by Whitehall officials, according to Tussell. So far the largest contract that has been published was for £234m by the Department for Education to Edenred, a vouchers business, to deliver supermarket vouchers while schools are closed to families who would normally get free school meals.

The Department of Health awarded four of the largest contracts for Covid-19 testing services, including £151m to Hologic, £133m to Randox Laboratories and £64m to Life Technologies. The companies were recruited to supply materials and training to medical laboratories and to test key workers.

Who’s guarding the treasury doors?

Its no good looking at the opposition the excuse is constant. “We are in the middle of a pandemic, there will be time for questions after; etc.

It was declared health secretary, Matt Hancock, acted unlawfully by failing to publish multibillion-pound Covid-19 government contracts within the 30-day period required by law, a high court judge has ruled.

The judge, Mr Justice Chamberlain, ruled the failure to do so breached the “vital public function” of transparency over how “vast quantities” of taxpayers’ money was spent.

Confronted with the very easy question on Matt Hancock resigning Starmer flinched!

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was directly asked if Matt Hancock should ‘resign’ Sir Keir Starmer said:

“he would not call for Mr Hancock to resign over the court ruling, saying it was “not what the public really want to see”.

But he told Sky News there had been “a lot of problems… on transparency and on who the contracts went to”, as well as “a lot of wasted money [which is] a real cause for concern”.

Other Labour MPs have said the health secretary should quit, including Nadia Whittome, who tweeted: “In what other job could you break the law and be let off?”

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) struck deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds during the coronavirus pandemic.

At least European politicians stand down when caught out…

European wide sticky fingers for politicians are a covid side effect.

The procurement of medicines and supplies in health systems is typically one of the most vulnerable areas for corruption.

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), approximately 10 – 25 per cent of all money spent on procurement globally is lost to corruption. In the EU, 28 per cent of health corruption cases are related specifically to procurement of medical equipment.

And that’s during normal times.

In Albania, where regular procurement procedures have been suspended since February, public contracts worth millions of euros for PPE and other medical equipment have raised suspicions of corrupt practices and clientelism. For the vast majority of the public contracts awarded since the outbreak of the pandemic, very little information, if any, has been released by the government on the details of the contracts.

This lack of transparency, in turn, is a key facilitator of corrupt practices within the public procurement process in Albania. Across the Adriatic Sea, an investigation by the Investigative Reporting Project Italy revealed that state contracts for the provision of various pieces of PPE were awarded to two businessmen who had been accused of various instances of fraud, including the misappropriation of public funds, and money-laundering offences.

German MPs quit ruling conservatives over face mask scandals

Germany’s latest political scandal is directly tied to the coronavirus pandemic: Two conservative politicians received kickbacks for brokering mask deals. left Georg Nüßlein right Nikolas Löbel

Germany’s latest political scandal is directly tied to the coronavirus pandemic: Two conservative politicians received kickbacks for brokering mask deals.

Germany-Investigators raided 13 properties in Germany and Liechtenstein as part of a probe into suspected corruption and bribery of elected officials related to the procurement of coronavirus face masks, the Munich prosecutor’s office told German media.

Nikolas Löbel announced that he would resign from his parliamentary mandate with immediate effect and would not run for the Bundestag again.

Nikolas Löbel an MP from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) stepped down on Monday over a government deal to procure face masks. Löbel confirmed he was involved in businesses dealings over face masks after reports that his company earned around €250,000 by brokering sales contracts.

MP Georg Nüßlein said he was leaving the Christian Social Union (CSU) — the Bavarian sister party of the CDU. The two parties form a single parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Nüßlein faces a corruption investigation over allegations he received €660,000 for helping broker government deals for face mask suppliers. He has denied any wrongdoing.

But Nüßlein still plans to remain an MP for the rest of his parliamentary term, despite calls from within his own party to resign as a lawmaker. He has said he does not plan to run for reelection in September.

CSU leaders said in a statement Monday that Nüßlein’s decision to leave the party was “inevitable, also to avoid further damage to the CSU.”

Löbel and Nüßlein had each on Sunday announced they were leaving the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, but faced calls to quit their other political offices.

Spiegel reported there may be more politicians involved in brokering face mask deals, and Ralph Brinkhaus, the leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told broadcaster ARD on Sunday evening that all “cases of doubt” within party ranks would be cleared up.

Piers Morgan First Casualty of Right Royal Rumpus

Paul Knaggs
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Piers Morgan First Casualty of Right Royal Rumpus

Piers Morgan is to leave Good Morning Britain following Meghan Markle row

The announcement comes after broadcasting regulator Ofcom launched an investigation after it received more than 41,000 complaints regarding comment made by the presenter following Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.

In a statement, the broadcaster said: “Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain.

“ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.”

It brings the controversial host’s time on the breakfast show to an end after six years.

The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle opened up about her suicidal thoughts during her time in the Royal Family in a deeply personal and explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey. Meghan said she got to the stage where she “just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”

After the clip aired, Morgan said during Monday’s programme: “I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she says.

Morgan’s departure followed an on-air clash with weather presenter Alex Beresford, who criticised his colleague on Tuesday for “continuing to trash” the duchess, prompting Morgan to walk off set. He returned within 10 minutes.

“I wouldn’t believe her if she read me a weather report.”

An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We have launched an investigation into Monday’s episode of Good Morning Britain under our harm and offence rules.”

Also on Tuesday, ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said she “completely believed what [the duchess] says”, adding that ITV is “totally committed to” mental health.

Mental health charity Mind, which is a partner with ITV on its Britain Get Talking campaign, also criticised Morgan, saying it was “disappointed” by the presenter’s comments.

Morgan has not commented on his departure beyond posting a gif on Twitter of a ticking clock.

What did Piers Morgan say?

On Monday’s programme, Morgan picked up on the duchess’s claim that her request to senior Buckingham Palace officials for help was rejected, after she told Winfrey she had had suicidal thoughts.

“Who did you go to?” he said. “What did they say to you? I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle. I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report.

“The fact that she’s fired up this onslaught against our Royal Family I think is contemptible.”

During Tuesday’s programme, Morgan addressed his comments about Meghan’s mental health.

He said: “When we talked about this yesterday, I said as an all-encompassing thing I don’t believe what Meghan Markle is saying generally in this interview, and I still have serious concerns about the veracity of a lot of what she said.

“But let me just state on the record my position about mental illness and on suicide. These are clearly extremely serious things that should be taken extremely seriously, and if someone is feeling that way they should get the treatment and help they need every time.”

He also referred to the duchess as the “Pinocchio Princess” in a tweet later that morning.

Following an outcry, he said on Tuesday’s episode that “I still have serious concerns about the veracity of a lot of what” Meghan said, but that it was “not for me to question if she felt suicidal”.

He added: “My real concern was a disbelief frankly… that she went to a senior member of the Royal household and told them she was suicidal and was told she could not have any help because it would be a bad look for the family.”

Meanwhile, on Monday evening Mind tweeted: “We were disappointed and concerned to see Piers Morgan’s comments on not believing Meghan’s experiences about suicidal thoughts today.

“It’s vital that when people reach out for support or share their experiences of ill mental health that they are treated with dignity, respect and empathy. We are in conversations with ITV about this at the moment.”

Speaking about the death of Diana, the 55-year-old former newspaper editor said Harry “couldn’t let it go”, but “William went through the same thing and he’s managed to come to terms with the media and he works with the media”.

Weather presenter Beresford then interjected and said the Royal couple had “had an overwhelming amount of negative press”.

“There was bad press around the engagement… and everything that has followed since.”

He added this had “been incredibly damaging, quite clearly, to Meghan’s mental health and also to Harry…

“And I hear Piers say William has gone through the same thing but, do you know what, siblings experience tragedy in their life and one will be absolutely fine and brush it off and the other will not be able to deal with it so strongly and that is clearly what has happened with Harry in this situation.

“He walked behind his mother’s coffin at a tender, tender age in front of the globe. That is going to shape a young boy for the rest of his life, so I think we all need to take a step back, and I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle, you’ve made it so clear a number of times on this programme…”

“And I understand you’ve got a personal relationship with Meghan Markle or had one and she cut you off.

“She’s entitled to cut you off if she wants to. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off?

“I don’t think she has but yet you continue to trash her…”

Morgan then stood up and said: “OK, I’m done with this” and walked off set, saying: “Sorry, no… sorry, can’t do this…” as he stormed off set as Beresford called his actions “diabolical behaviour”.

Oprah With Meghan and Harry is available to watch on demand on ITV Hub for viewers in the UK.

Article in part taken from ITV News

Banksy: Game Changer to be auctioned for NHS

Paul Knaggs
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Banksy: Game Changer to be auctioned for NHS

Street Artist and Activist Banksy raising money for NHS charities

A Banksy painting of a young boy ditching his Batman and Spider-Man action figures for one of a caped superhero nurse could raise more than £3m for the NHS.

Christie’s has announced it is selling the artwork on behalf of the artist, with the proceeds going to NHS charities.

Activist and Street artist Banksy hopes to raise more than £3m for the NHS with the auction of a painting offering a “universal tribute” to staff.

The painting, titled Game Changer, was delivered to Southampton general hospital last May, during the first wave of the pandemic, with a note: “Thanks for all you’re doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if its only black and white.”

It has hung in a corridor near the emergency department and was, hospital managers said, a huge boost to morale.

Banksy is now auctioning the original canvas to raise funds for the NHS, with a reproduction of the work to remain in the hospital.

The painting has a pre-sale estimate of between £2.5 to £3.5m.

It shows a young boy kneeling and playing with superhero dolls.

While Batman and Spiderman are discarded in a bin, the child clutches a figure of a masked nurse wearing a cape.

It’s the first public work of art from the artist during the coronavirus lockdown – he’d previously hinted that he’s been creative in the lockdown by painting rats all over the walls of his toilet at home – much to the annoyance of his wife.

But now, this work of art was left at Southampton General Hospital, and he included a note to accompany it, staff said.

“Thanks for all you’re doing,” the note read. “I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if it’s only black and white.”

The work, which has been hung in the corridor of Level C at the city’s hospital, where staff and patients can see it – was then posted on Banksy’s Instagram page, along with the title: Game Changer.

A spokesperson for Banksy confirmed that after lockdown measures are lifted, the work of art – which is a metre high and a metre wide – will be put on public display, and then will be auctioned to raise money for NHS charities.

At Sotheby’s last summer Banksy sold a Triptych of what seem to be tempestuous 19th century seascapes but are actually politically charged works. The triptych, Mediterranean Sea View 2017, is a response to the migrant crisis of the past decade. The three traditionally framed paintings appear to be Romantic-era seascapes but the lifebuoys and orange life jackets being washed on to the shore speak volumes.

Banksy’s triptych (Picture: Alamy)

Mediterranean Sea View 2017 was three traditionally framed romantic-era seascapes on to which Banksy had added washed-up lifebuoys and lifejackets, making a statement on the global migrant crisis. It sold for £2.2m.

The record for a Banksy painting at auction was set by an enormous work titled Devolved Parliament, showing chimpanzees as MPs in the House of Commons chamber. It sold for £9.9m in 2019. Banksy reacted on Instagram that it was a “shame I didn’t still own it”.

The anonymous artist continues to be active on the street, last week channeling Bob Ross in a video on his Instagram page showing him paint an escaping prisoner on the side of Reading jail.

If you enjoy Banksy’s work as much as we do then pop over and view it here:

https://www.banksy.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/banksy/

Boris Johnson admits Covid cases could shoot up as schools reopen, so why not a phased return to school?

Paul Knaggs
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Boris Johnson admits Covid cases could shoot up as schools reopen, so why not a phased return to school?

Boris Johnson admits ‘of course’ Covid cases could shoot up as schools reopen.

Boris Johnson has admitted Covid cases could “of course” shoot upwards as schools in England reopen this week.

We all know what is meant by spike, its not just a bar chart, a slide, it’s more deaths more pain and more hurt for somebody’s family.

The Prime Minister said there is a “big budget of risk” that was “just inevitable” – but insisted: “The biggest risk is not opening schools now”.

All schools in England are set to resume full classes this week in a “big bang” reopening despite unions’ calls for a slower, staged opening.

“Of course, there will be a risk of increased transmission, that’s inevitable if you open up schools for millions of kids across the country. That is going to happen,” he told a Downing Street press conference.

Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical adviser for England, said infection rates remained at the same levels as in late September, even without the effect of schools returning. That was the same period when government scientists became so concerned about infection rates that the government was advised to consider a two-week circuit-breaker lockdown.

The reopening of schools will have an impact on infection rates that could affect the roadmap for lifting restrictions, Boris Johnson has warned as England’s deputy chief medical adviser said it was too soon to rule out a fourth wave taking off.

This begs the question, why English schools are not carrying out a phased return to school that Scotland are advocating.

The Scottish parliament has confirmed that they will be employing a phased return to school for younger pupils.

This will include pre-school children, pupils in primaries 1, 2 and 3, and a limited number of secondary students who need to carry out practical assignments.

From 15 March.

All remaining primary school children are set to return to school full-time from 15 March, with all secondary pupils returning on a part-time basis from that date.

Regulated childcare, including breakfast and after-school clubs, for primary pupils will also re-start on 15 March as part of the Phase 2 return.

From 15 March, all secondary pupils will receive both high quality remote learning and some in-school teaching. Councils will decide how to safely balance in-school learning based on local circumstances and needs.

Senior phase students (S4-S6) who are taking national qualifications will have priority for face-to-face lessons in school.

Updated schools safety guidance to support the phased return will be published next week and Education Scotland will develop practical guidance for schools, which will be also published shortly.

Local authorities will be encouraged to support young people’s wellbeing in other ways – for example, by providing more opportunities for outdoor learning.

Colleges, who can have up to 5% of learners on campus at any one time, will also be able to prioritise senior phase pupils.

For the England its a case of suck it and see

The BBC ask the question: Do children spread the virus?
Among pupils in primary schools, evidence shows that there is limited spread of coronavirus.

But teenagers – particularly older teens – are probably more like adults in the way they transmit the virus.

In the second wave of England’s epidemic in the autumn and early winter, schoolchildren and young adults experienced a much faster rise in infections than other age groups – most likely because they had more opportunities to mingle.

What role do schools play in spreading coronavirus?

This is difficult to say. When schools are open, there is more spread among schoolchildren, particularly those at secondary level. There have also been signs that transmission dips after school holidays, such as half-term.

But it’s hard to say whether children are catching the virus in the classroom, or on the bus or hanging out with friends after school.

Rates of infection in schools tend to reflect rates of infection elsewhere.

An ONS survey of 100 schools in England, which tested random pupils and staff without symptoms, found 1.24% of pupils and 1.29% of staff tested positive for the infection in November, mirroring an estimated 1.2% infection rate in the general population.

Jenny Harries, England’s deputy chief medical officer, has said schools are “not a significant driver” of cases of Covid in communities, although she said children could definitely transmit the infection in schools and elsewhere.

Sage, the government’s scientific advisory group, has suggested opening schools could increase the virus’s reproduction rate or R number by as much as 30%.

But this is highly uncertain and depends a lot in factors like testing, masks and ventilation.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries warned cases could surge in the next couple of weeks, taking many children out of school, as testing gets going.

Secondary pupils are taking three supervised rapid tests at school over the next fortnight but will then be expected to self-test twice a week at home.

Dr Harries told a Downing Street press conference: “The testing programme in schools should mean that the likelihood of the case going into the school and numbers of children having to come out of education to isolate should be very significantly reduced,

“Just a forewarning here, they may be a very short period at the start of this programme where everybody gets used to it and a larger number of children come out of school, and then it will settle down.

“So I think it’s really important that when observing this people think through to the next three to four weeks, not the next one to two.”

Dr Harries could not rule out the prospect of schools having to close again, saying “hopefully” it will not happen.

It is understood the Department for Education still has a “contain framework” which shut some schools locally in January – available to use again if needed.

Some 4,712 people in the UK tested positive in the most recent 24 hours, a sharp fall, and case rates are below 100 per 100,000 in every region.

But Dr Harries said the level – the same as it was at the end of September – is one from which “a new wave could easily take off again”.

Ministers have said schools will not shut if the R rate tips above 1, as many of the most vulnerable have been vaccinated. Dr Harries said “we do expect there to be an impact on R”.

But she said “education is of critical public health importance just as much as Covid is”, and said some spreading might happen at school gates rather than in classrooms.

Boris Johnson admitted: “Of course there will be a risk of increased transmission – that’s inevitable if you open up schools for millions of kids across the country, that’s going to happen.

“But we think we can do it now in the way that we are because we have the proportion of the population vaccinated that I described, the groups 1-4, having had the immunity bedded in after at least three weeks.”

He said there had been spikes before, adding: “Don’t forget there is a big budget of risk involved in opening schools today in the way that we are – that’s just inevitable.

“We think it’s manageable, we think it’s right, we think we’re prudent…. the biggest risk is not opening schools now.”

Back to school: lockdown rules will change in England ‘today’ but teachers union say plans already ‘unravelling’.

Back to school: lockdown rules will change in England ‘today’ but teachers union say plans already ‘unravelling’.

Paul Knaggs
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Back to school: lockdown rules will change in England ‘today’ but teachers union say plans already ‘unravelling’.

Some restrictions will be lifted on Monday as the first stage of the roadmap out of lockdown comes into force

Both Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer have backed a full reopening of schools for all children on March 8th

Responding to the announcement by the Prime Minister that all pupils are to return to schools and colleges from March 8, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union, said:

“The Prime Minister has stated that it is his priority to get all pupils back to school and college. However, re-opening schools and colleges fully on 8 March is one thing; keeping them open and preventing the need for further national restrictions is quite another.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said in response to schools opening:

“…that all pupils will return to English schools and colleges on 8 March demonstrates, again, that Boris Johnson has, despite all his words of caution, failed to learn the lessons of his previous mistakes.

“Whilst cases of Covid infection are falling, along with hospitalisation rates, it remains the case, unfortunately, that cases are three times higher now than when schools re-opened last September. This fact, alone, should have induced caution rather than, in the words of Nadhim Zahawi an ‘ambitious’ school return which runs the risk of schools, once again, becoming, in the Prime Minister’s words on 4 January, ‘vector of transmission’ into the community. This risk is greatly elevated because of the new variants of Covid which are significantly more transmissive.

“Why has the English Government not taken the same route as Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland whose cautious, phased approach to school opening will enable their Governments to assess the impact a return to the classroom will have on the R rate and to make necessary adjustments to their plans.

Starmer backs the Tories, not the unions.

Starmer has constantly backed the Tories and Boris Johnson on opening schools ignoring parents, teachers unions and the science.

On opening schools Starmer told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: ‘Ideally, I’d like to see all schools back open on 8th March and all children back in school on March 8.

Sir Keir Starmer’s stance is a rejection of pressure from unions and professional bodies, who have warned reopening schools to all pupils at the same time would be ‘reckless’ and could risk another spike in Covid infections.

We have not got to school opening times and Johnsons Roadmap is unravelling when will Starmer back the Teachers?

Alarming statistics

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 5 weeks after testing positive for coronavirus, 15% of secondary school children and 13% of under 12s are still struggling with symptoms.

Long Covid Kids also reported that between the autumn half term and December 2020, 700 children were admitted to hospital as a result of coronavirus. The virus is now known to be capable of damaging a range of organs, causing permanent disability, even in those whose symptoms had initially been mild. And because schools have been open since September, fuelling the spread of the disease, it seems likely that the long term health implications of coronavirus are likely to be worse for children than we currently know. Read more on Long Covid

The COSMOS is speaking to parents and campaigners working with @SafeEdForAll and @LongCOVIDKids campaigns about their concerns over the rush back to schools.

“The best laid plans of mice and men”

Roadmap out of lockdown

Step one of lockdown lifting is being broken down into two parts, with the first phase happening on March 8 – starting the five-week countdown until the next step – and the second phase on March 29.

England will begin to take its first cautious steps out of lockdown on Monday as children return to their school and care homes welcome back visitors to see their loved ones.

Last month, Boris Johnson revealed England’s roadmap out of lockdown which he said he hoped would be the end of the cycle of opening and closing the country.

The four-step plan, broken up by five-week intervals, begins on Monday March 8 and it is hoped to end on June 21.

In order for lockdown to be lifted the government has said that four key indicators must all be going in the right direction, otherwise the plans may be delayed.

The four indicators are:

  • The vaccine roll-out is going as planned – with all adults offered their first dose by the end of July.
  • The vaccines have been proved to be effective.
  • Case numbers are not rising and there is no risk the NHS will be overwhelmed.
  • New variants do not create unforeseen risks.

By most metrics, Covid in the UK is falling at an expected rate, if not faster, and the vaccine rollout continues to increase momentum.

So, what is going to change today?

People will be allowed to have a coffee or picnic with one person from another household in the park.

Care home residents will have more rights to be visited by their loved ones for much-needed respite.

The biggest change comes with Schools and childcare

The biggest change happening on Monday is the return of pupils to school.

Unlike the rest of the UK, England will not be phasing the return of pupils to their desks, all primaries and secondary schools will open on Monday.

Many secondary schools are opting to stagger the return over the week in order to meet the demand for testing.

Secondary and college pupils will be tested with lateral flow tests twice a week, receiving three initial tests at school before they start taking them at home. Wraparound childcare like childminders and after-school clubs can also return from March 8.

So where does it all go wrong?

Schools are struggling to get parents to voluntarily swab their kids twice a week – the National Education Union warns tonight Gavin Williamson’s master plan is ‘unravelling’

Gavin Williamson’s master plan to ­reopen schools is set to fail its first big test as thousands of ­pupils return without being tested for coronavirus.

The Education Secretary had pinned his hopes on regular lateral flow tests keeping kids and staff safe.

But a survey found many schools are struggling to get parents to voluntarily swab their kids twice a week.

It has sparked fears of a surge in cases as asymptomatic infections go undetected.

Some 57 million testing kits have been sent to schools – but experts are concerned about their accuracy when carried out by untrained staff and parents.

Teachers are expected to carry out the first three tests on pupils.

Mary Bousted, leader of the National Education Union, warns tonight that the plans are “unravelling”.

And Independent SAGE scientist Dr Zubaida Haque said the Government had “passed the buck” on testing and Mr Williamson had “failed children and parents”.

Between March and December, there were 139 Covid-related deaths among teaching staff – and more have died since.

Reopening schools will bring nearly 10 million pupils and staff back into circulation in England.

Secondaries are being allowed to stagger the return over two weeks – meaning some pupils will have just ten days in class before the Easter break.

A poll of 943 schools by the Association of School and College Leaders found more than half were having difficulty obtaining parental consent for testing.

An ITV survey of 200 secondaries found as few as 9% had consent rates above 95%.

Some parents have said on social media they will not allow their child be tested unless they can be there too.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College leaders, called the polls “worrying”.

One anonymous teacher told the Sunday People that the “vast majority” of parents at her east London secondary school had not given consent.

“The concern is falling back into the pattern from before Christmas with whole year groups being off,” she said.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “We encourage everyone to consent, following staff and students who have taken millions of tests while schools have been open to critical workers and vulnerable children.”

Care home visitors return

Monday will also finally allow the return of visitors to care homes after almost a year of forced separation for most residents.

Residents of care homes will be allowed to nominate one person to be a regular visitor as long as they get a test close to their visit and wear PPE.

By now practically all residents of care homes will have received their first dose of the vaccine, as will many of the people who will be visiting them.

#schoolsreopeninguk

French billionaire MP Olivier Dassault dies in helicopter crash

Paul Knaggs
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French billionaire MP Olivier Dassault dies in helicopter crash

French President Emmanuel Macron calls Dassault’s ‘sudden death’ a ‘tragic loss’.

French MP and billionaire Olivier Dassault has died in a helicopter crash in north-western France.

French billionaire politician Olivier Dassault died on Sunday in a helicopter crash in France’s northwestern region of Normandy, parliamentary and probe sources told AFP.

The accident occurred on Sunday evening in Normandy where he had a holiday home, according to police sources.

In his tribute, President Emanuel Macron said Dassault, 69, loved France and his death would be “a great loss”.

Olivier Dassault was elected to the National Assembly – France’s lower house of parliament – in 2002 and represented the Oise area of northern France.

The MP, from the centre-right Republicans, was considered the 361st richest man in the world – worth an estimated €6.3bn ($7.3bn; £5.2bn) according to Forbes.

Translation: Olivier Dassault loved France. Captain of industry, deputy, local elected official, reserve commander in the air force: during his life, he never ceased to serve our country, to value its assets. His sudden death is a great loss. Thoughts to his family and loved ones.

Olivier Dassault was the son of industrialist Serge Dassault and grandson of Marcel Dassault whose group builds Rafale warplanes and owns Le Figaro newspaper.

Marcel Dassault

Olivier Dassault grandfather Marcel Dassault (born Marcel Bloch; 22 January 1892 – 17 April 1986) was a French industrialist who spent his career in aircraft manufacturing.

He stepped down from his role on the board of Dassault due to his political role to avoid any conflict of interest.

Olivier, seen as the favourite of founder Marcel, was once considered favoured to succeed Serge at the head of the family holding, but that role went to former Dassault Aviation CEO Charles Edelstenne.

Olivier Dassault grandfather Marcel Dassault fight against the Nazis

Marcel Bloch in deportee clothes. (1945)

During the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, France’s aviation industry was virtually disbanded, other than the compulsory manufacturing, assembly and servicing of German designs.

In October 1940, Bloch refused to collaborate with the German occupiers at Bordeaux-Aéronautique and was imprisoned by the Vichy government. In 1944 the Nazis deported Bloch to the Buchenwald concentration camp, as punishment for refusing to co-operate with their regime.

He was tortured and beaten and held in solitary confinement. In the meantime, his wife was interned near Paris. Bloch was detained at Buchenwald until it was liberated on 11 April 1945. By the time of his return to Paris he was crippled to such an extent that he could barely walk. He was advised by his doctors to settle his affairs, as they did not expect him to recover his health.

After the war, he changed his name from Bloch to Bloch-Dassault and in 1949 to Dassault. Dassault was the nom de guerre used by his brother, General Darius Paul Bloch, when he served in the French resistance and is derived from char d’assaut, French for “battle tank”. In 1971 Dassault acquired Breguet, forming Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation

The helicopter carrying Dassault crashed near Deauville at about 18:00 (1700 GMT), sources told AFP news agency. The pilot was also killed, the sources added. No-one else was on board.

NHS: Boris Johnson ignores public outcry claiming 1% pay rise is ‘as much as we can give’

Paul Knaggs
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NHS: Boris Johnson ignores public outcry claiming 1% pay rise is ‘as much as we can give’

Boris Johnson has defended plans to give some NHS staff in England a 1% pay rise, amid warnings that “undervalued” nurses could quit.

The government is giving workers “as much as we can” in the “tough times” of the Covid pandemic, Mr Johnson said.

Asked about the proposed pay rise on a visit to a coronavirus vaccination centre in Brent in north London, Mr Johnson said: “What we have done is try to give them as much as we can at the present time.

“Don’t forget that there has been a public sector pay freeze, we’re in pretty tough times.”

He added he was “massively grateful” to “heroic” health and social care workers during the pandemic.

But the Royal College of Nursing reiterated its calls for the government to make a U-turn on the 1% offer.

The union’s general secretary, Dame Donna Kinnair, said: “More of these warm words for nurses are not going to cut it.”

The rise, which is being considered by an independent panel, would cover most hospital staff.

Last year the government promised to give NHS workers a 2.1% pay rise.

NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts in England, said a long-term plan set out years ago by the government had assumed a pay rise of more than 2% for healthcare workers in 2021/22.

The proposed pay rise for this year has been set at 1%, prompting anger from unions and opposition MPs.

In contrast, the Royal College of Nursing is calling for a 12.5% pay rise for Agenda for Change staff as part of its Fair Pay for Nursing campaign.

Johnson said the government had “tried to give the NHS as much as we possibly can” to tackle Covid, and had provided £62bn to the health service on top of its usual annual allocation of £140bn.

Pressed by the BBC’s Andrew Marr on whether there could be a rethink on the pay rise, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “What the government has put forward has been passed to an independent review.

“We’ve put forward what we believe we can afford and it is part of a process and that is what will be looked at,” he added.

“But really, our focus is on making sure we recover from this pandemic.”

£3.50-a-week pay rise ‘insulting’ and ‘hypocrisy’

The general public are asking serious questions on how the government have spent public money during this Covid pandemic and feel that there have been billions wasted and questions of cronyism need to be answered.

The public overwhelmingly believe the government’s privately run Covid test-and-trace system has been a failure, a new poll has found.

Research by Survation seen by The Independent shows that just 29 per cent of the public think the system has been successful compared to 60 per cent who say it is going badly.

The findings come as the small print of Rishi Sunak’s budget show the system is to get another £15 billion cash injection, bringing its total cost to £37 billion.

Campaigners said the results showed that handing “huge chunks” of the Covid response to the private sector had been a “catastrophic mistake”

The highly negative view of the contact tracing system contrasts with the widespread positive impression of the NHS’s own vaccine roll-out – which was largely conducted in-house.

80 per cent of people say the NHS vaccine drive is going well, compared to just 13 who say it is going badly, the Survation poll, commissioned by Keep Our NHS Public and We Own It found.

The poll found similarly low regard for the sourcing of PPE, which has been dogged with controversy over contracts. 57 per cent of people said this was going badly, and just 33 per cent well.

“This result just goes to show that it is the work of the NHS that is rightly favoured by the British public, and indeed, it is here where the public have seen the most benefit by far,” said Dr John Puntis, Co-Chair of campaign group Keep Our NHS Public.

Meanwhile overnight the RCN created the UK’s largest union strike fund.

LINK

The RCN union, which represents 450,000 health care professionals, said an “emergency meeting” was held in the wake of the pay rise proposal, at which members of the RCN Council voted “unanimously” to set up the fund.

As tensions have risen, the Royal College of Nursing has set up a £35m industrial action fund – threatening to take strike action – while another union has urged the public to support a slow hand clap next week mocking the proposals.

Deputy chief executive of NHS Providers Saffron Cordery said: “It is very disappointing that the government has said that a 1% pay rise is all that is affordable when they know that the assumption was that the 2021/22 NHS pay rise would be 2.1% – and that this was covered by the NHS revenue settlement announced by Theresa May in June 2018.

“This settlement was then enshrined in a formal act of parliament, the NHS Funding Act 2020.”

“Some will think that the government is snatching planned pay rises from the pockets of deserving NHS staff so they don’t have to fund the extra costs of COVID-19, which the chancellor personally committed he would meet,” she added.

The Unite union also said it would not rule out asking members about potential strike action.

It is clear the government will not just be facing industrial action from NHS workers but the NHS will have the support of other unions willing to back the strike action and what’s more an entire grateful nation standing behind our NHS workers.

It said the next steps on whether to strike would be decided in conjunction with members and “further announcements will be made in the coming weeks”.

Hope and Despair: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe released but faces new court date

Paul Knaggs
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Hope and Despair: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe released but faces new court date

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran on spying charges, has had her ankle tag removed at the end of her five year sentence.

But her husband Richard Ratcliffe has been told a new court case against her is scheduled for next Sunday.

The charity worker had been under house arrest in Tehran since being moved from jail last March. She has always denied the charges against her.

The second set of charges long threatened by the Iranians include involvement in propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic by attending a demonstration outside the Iran embassy in 2009 and speaking to BBC Persian.

Her lawyer Hojjat Kermani told the Iranian website Emtedad on Sunday that her five-year prison sentence for plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment was complete.

“She was pardoned by Iran’s supreme leader last year, but spent the last year of her term under house arrest with electronic shackles tied to her feet. Now they’re cast off,” Kermani told the website. “She has been freed.”

Iran’s judiciary officials have yet to comment on the release.

In practice, the news means she has been released from the ankle tag that keeps her within 300 metres of her parents’ home, but since she is facing a set of charges this Sunday she is unlikely to be given back her passport, which she would need to return to the UK.

The foreign secretary said she should be allowed to return to the UK.

Dominic Raab said in a statement: “We welcome the removal of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ankle tag, but Iran continues to put her and her family through a cruel and an intolerable ordeal.

“She must be released permanently so she can return to her family in the UK. We will continue to do all we can to achieve this.

“We have relayed to the Iranian authorities in the strongest possible terms that her continued confinement is unacceptable.”

Tulip Siddiq, the Labour MP for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in London where Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family live, told the BBC she had not yet had her British passport returned to her.

“But she does have to go back to court and we don’t know what awaits her there,” she said.

“Nazanin is quite worried because there was talk of another case being put against her which may of course mean another sentence, and we don’t know how long for.”

However Ms Siddiq said the removal of her ankle tag meant she could visit her elderly grandmother “which is the thing she mentions every time I speak to her”.

“So on one hand they are celebrating that she has some elements of freedom in terms of not having the tracker anymore, but we just don’t know what’s going to happen in the court case,” she added.

“I know her daughter has been counting down the days on her calendar at home for her mother to return.”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter

Jeremy Hunt, who served as foreign secretary while Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in jail, said it was “beyond cruel to toy with an innocent mother and six-year-old child in this way”.

“She has served five years: let her come home,” he said in a tweet.

Kate Allen, director at Amnesty International UK, said the news that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ankle tag had been removed was “bittersweet” and “yet another example of the calculated cruelty of the Iranian authorities”.

“Nazanin was convicted after a deeply unfair trial the first time around and this spurious new charge and possible trial is clearly designed to delay her release and exert yet more pressure on Nazanin and her family,” she said.

“This won’t be over until Nazanin has her passport and is on a flight heading home to the UK,” she added, urging the government to take “serious diplomatic action”.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 42, had been out of prison since last spring due to the coronavirus pandemic but had been confined to her parent’s house. Her sentence was due to end on Sunday.

She was arrested in April 2016 while travelling to visit her parents in Iran with her young British-born daughter, Gabriella.

The dual national was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, which she denies. Prior to her arrest, she lived in London with her husband and child.

Iraq: Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Sistani call for unity

Paul Knaggs
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Iraq: Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Sistani call for unity

Pope Francis met with a top Shia cleric in Iraq on Saturday as part of his historic three-day visit to the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, one of the most influential clerics in Shia Islam, took place in the holy city of Najaf and was meant to deliver a message of cooperation and friendship between religious communities.

Pope Francis sought to reinforce ties across religions during the second day of his trip to Iraq, visiting a top Shiite Muslim cleric on Saturday and leading a meeting with representatives of different faiths at the ancient site of Ur in the south of the country.

According to scripture, Ur is the birthplace of Abraham, considered the founder of monotheism and revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews. In a ceremony that gathered a few dozen people next to an excavated part of the ancient city site Iraqis call the House of Abraham, Francis recalled a passage in Genesis where God calls on Abraham to look at the stars and imagine how numerous his descendants will be.

“In those stars, he saw the promise of his descendants, he saw us,” said Francis. The pope invited the assembled Christians, Muslims and representatives of Iraq’s other minority faiths — including Yazidis and Sabean Mandeans — to see in the stars a message of unity.

“They illumine the darkest nights because they shine together,” said Francis.

Following the meeting, al-Sistani said in a statement: “Religious and spiritual leadership must play a big role to put a stop to tragedy and urge sides, especially great powers, to make wisdom and sense prevail and erase the language of war.”

Al-Sistani affirmed that Iraq’s Christians should live in peace and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis. Pope Francis said the ayatollah’s message of peace affirmed “the sacredness of human life and the importance of the unity of the Iraqi people.”

He added that Christians, like all other Iraqis, should be able to live in peace and coexistence.

For his part, Pope Francis thanked al-Sistani for having “raised his voice in defence of the weakest”, according to the Vatican.

The papal visit is in support of Iraq’s Christian minority that has faced years of war and persecution.

The meeting took place at al-Sistani’s home in Najaf and was months in the making with details negotiated between the ayatollah’s office and the Vatican.

The 84-year-old pontiff’s convoy was led by a bullet-proof vehicle and when he arrived at the home on Saturday, a few doves were released in a sign of peace.

An Iraqi security guard stands in front of a huge billboard bearing portraits of Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani (R) in Baghdad on 4 March 2021 [AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images]

Al-Sistani’s role in Iraq

On the few occasions where he has made his opinion known, the notoriously reclusive al-Sistani has shifted the course of Iraq’s modern history.

He preached calm and restraint after the 2003 US-led invasion as the Shiite majority came under attack by al-Qaida and other Sunni extremists. The country was nevertheless plunged into years of sectarian violence.

His 2014 fatwa, or religious edict, calling on able-bodied men to join the security forces in fighting the Islamic State group swelled the ranks of Shiite militias, many closely tied to Iran. In 2019, as anti-government demonstrations gripped the country, his sermon lead to the resignation of then-prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Iraqis have welcomed the visit as the country struggles to recover from decades of war and unrest. Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State group in 2017 but still sees sporadic attacks including recent rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias against US military and diplomatic facilities.

The violence is linked to the standoff between the US and Iran following Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord and its imposition of crippling sanctions on Iran.

RCN Announces £35 million Industrial Action Fund and an entire nation standing behind them

Paul Knaggs
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RCN Announces £35 million Industrial Action Fund and an entire nation standing behind them

The RCN has created the UK’s largest union strike fund overnight.

Last night the union’s governing Council convened an emergency meeting, in which they voted unanimously to immediately set up a £35 million Industrial Action fund.

This came after the Government asked the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) to recommend a rise of just 1% for all NHS workers.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) called this 1% for all NHS workers “pitiful”, arguing that its members should get 12.5% instead.

The Department of Health and Social Care recommended the 1% pay rise to the independent panel that advises the government on NHS salaries.

It would cover nearly all hospital staff, but not GPs and dentists. The panel is due to make its own pay recommendations in early May, when ministers will make their final decision.

A government spokesperson said 1% was a “real-terms increase”, as the latest official inflation figure was 0.9%.

The RCN union, which represents 450,000 health care professionals, said an “emergency meeting” was held in the wake of the pay rise proposal, at which members of the RCN Council voted “unanimously” to set up the fund.

It said the next steps on whether to strike would be decided in conjunction with members and “further announcements will be made in the coming weeks”.

The Unite union also said it would not rule out asking members about potential strike action.

It is clear the government will not just be facing industrial action from NHS workers but the NHS will have the support of other unions willing to back the strike action and what’s more an entire grateful nation standing behind our NHS workers.

The health secretary has defended a proposed 1% pay increase for NHS workers in England this year, amid a backlash from unions.

The chairman of the healthcare company awarded over 5million is the former business partner of the Health and Social Care Secretary’s mother and stepfather link

Matt Hancock said the proposal was “what we think is affordable” given financial pressures caused by the Covid pandemic.

He added staff had been exempted from the wider freeze on public sector pay to reward their “incredible” work.

Speaking at Friday’s Downing Street briefing, Mr Hancock said the pay award reflected the “difficult financial circumstances the country is in”.

“One of the challenges we’ve faced as a country is in terms of the financial consequences of the pandemic,” he told reporters.

“We’ve proposed what we think is affordable to make sure in the NHS people do get a pay rise,” he said.

The health department recommended the 1% pay award to the independent panel that advises the government on NHS salaries. It would cover nearly all hospital staff, but not GPs and dentists.

In addition, some staff whose pay band is being changed will get more than a 1% increase as a result of a previously agreed three-year pay deal.

The government says newly-qualified nurses got a 12% pay rise over the course of that three-year agreement.

What do NHS workers in England earn?

  • The lowest minimum full-time salary – for newly employed drivers, housekeeping assistants, nursery assistants and domestic support workers – is £18,005 per year
  • The starting salary for most newly qualified nurses is £24,907
  • Staff in “high-cost areas”, such as London, get extra payments

How is pay decided?

Around half of all public-sector workers, including NHS staff, police officers and teachers, have their salaries negotiated by independent pay-review bodies.

These pay bodies – made up of individuals not directly attached to the relevant department but with experience in economics and employee relations – work with government departments, unions and other groups to come up with a recommendation on how pay should change each year.

This recommendation is non-binding.

In November, the government announced that public-sector workers would have their pay frozen in 2021-22.

The Largest strike fund ever setup overnight

In setting up this fund, the RCN has created the UK’s largest union strike fund overnight.

The most experienced front-line nurses are £6144 per year worse off now than ten years ago due to wages failing to keep up with the rate of inflation (RPI).

Health unions have been calling upon the Government to give NHS workers an immediate restorative rise of between 12.5% and 15% after over a decade of real-terms pay cuts.

Dave Dawes, Chair of Council, told NursingNotes; “Our members and our elected officials are all rightfully angry that the government has ignored all our lobbying efforts and campaigning and is recommending a pathetic 1% pay rise.

“The government is sending us a clear message about their intentions on pay. The RCN is sending a clear message that we feel that industrial action is becoming much more likely.

“Last night the RCN created the biggest union industrial action fund the UK has ever seen and this is just the first step.”

Health Minister and former nurse Nadine Dorries claimed the government “absolutely appreciates” the work of NHS staff, but a 1% pay rise is “what we can afford”. She also says “many in the private sector have lost their jobs or on reduced pay or reduced hours.”

United we stand

The Unite union also said it would not rule out asking members about potential strike action.

Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, the union’s national officer for its health sector wing, told ITV News that Unite would “look at all possible options including industrial action”.

He added: “The time for clapping has stopped, now is the time to pay up.”

The government is facing a furious backlash from nurses, doctors, health care unions, politicians and the public for proposing the pay rise, which will in real-terms will amount to a pay cut due to inflation.

Ministers defended the proposal, saying 1% was the most the government could afford at a time when the economy was under “huge pressure” as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Downing Street defended the pay rise, saying it’s what is “affordable”.

Boris Johnson’s spokesman said: “We recognise the impact Covid has had on the NHS and we want to honour this.

“But the pandemic has real consequences and we have done all that we can to protect jobs and save livelihoods.

This is insulting’

Emily Huntingford
image captionEmily Huntingford said staff needed reward for the risks they have run

Emily Huntingford, an intensive care nurse at a London hospital, said she had been “completely shocked” when she heard about the 1% pay rise.

“The first thing that came into my mind was that this is insulting,” she added. “It shows a complete disregard for the work NHS workers have done this year.

“This whole year has taken a lot of personal sacrifice for all of us. We’ve put ourselves at risk.”

But Emma, a nurse who works in Nottingham, said that “even though 1% isn’t much, it’s still a pay rise”.

She told BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat that all public sector workers and key workers – not just NHS staff – should get the same.

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