BMA hits out at claim that 'pay parity' is unnecessary - after former DUP adviser brands principle 'nonsense'
Any notion that NHS workers in Northern Ireland would be paid less than counterparts in the rest of the UK is wrong – and would result in a “huge downward spiral”, a doctors’ union has claimed.
Dr Alan Stout from the British Medical Association (BMA) was responding to criticism of the concept of pay parity from a former DUP special advisor – who said it is a “nonsense” given the cost of living here.
Tim Cairns said pay in private sector companies is lower in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the UK, a factor which had led to companies setting up here.
Public sector unions and the UUP health minister Mike Nesbitt have supported the principle, despite growing pressure on Stormont budgets.
However, public sector union NIPSA recently said pay parity wasn’t enough, and that the trade union wants to achieve “a socialist economic model” and for workers in NI to have the highest pay “anywhere in the world”.
A recent report from the think tank Pivotal said that public sector pay makes up around 60% of Stormont’s day to day spending. But it pointed out that not all public sector workers benefit from pay parity, and “an argument can be made against it because of the lower cost of living in NI, particularly lower household rates and no domestic water charges”. However, it said this must be balanced against the need to recruit and retain staff who could go to work elsewhere.
Speaking on the Stormont Sources podcast, Mr Cairns said: “So what is it about teachers and nurses and doctors and all these folks that they demand that their that their pay is at the same party across the UK?”.
He said they could move to other parts of the country, but would not have the same standard of living as they would here.
Alan Stout of the BMA told the News Letter that young doctors are deciding it’s “just not worth it to work here”, and are leaving NI. “To go down the line of ‘pay parity isn't important anymore’ is going to be so destructive, and it's going to just be simply irreversible in terms of anything we're trying to do with our health service”, he said.
Last month, UUP health minister Mike Nesbitt announced NI healthcare staff would pay parity with UK colleagues.