Number of NHS executives earning £250,000 or more rises by 50% in a year

The number of NHS executives pocketing at least £250,000-a-year has risen by more than 50 per cent in 2021, new data has revealed.

36 National Health Service trust managers or clinician commissioning groups earn over a quarter million pounds, while only 23 earned within the same salary bracket in 2020. 

The exponential rise in high-earners was criticised by one senior Tory MP, who blasted the figures as ‘unacceptable’ and expects a backlash from voters after April’s planned £36bn National Insurance hike, reports The Telegraph. 

On Saturday, it was also revealed that Sajid Javid, Health Secretary, had approved the overhaul of the NHS and the removal of existing pay brackets in order to attract the best leaders across the country. 

Earlier this year, critics slammed the creation of 42 chief executives of integrated care boards in England, whose job will be to ‘deliver joined-up services’ across the NHS and social care. 

And those positions appear to already be attracting significant salaries, with online adverts revealing each executive will be paid an average of £223,261.

The vote comes just after RCN members voted in favor of industrial action earlier this month as a warning shot for No10 regarding their fury at the 3% salary increase. 

The National Health Service has 36 trusts and clinical commissioning group managers who now make more than one quarter of a billion pounds, as compared with only 23 in the same bracket for 2020. [File picture] 

Health Minister Edward Argar provided new data on Saturday that showed more than 7,000 NHS managers were earning between £80,000 and £129,999 this year.

That figure includes a total of 1,071 whose pay ranges from £130,000 to £199,999, 114 others who pocket between £200,000 and £249,000 and 36 top ranked executives whose annual compensation is £100,000 higher than the Prime Minister’s pay packet.  

As per most current data, there has been an increase in the number of very senior NHS managers from 944 to over 2,700 between September 2009 and the end of last year. 

This comes after new polling data showed that almost 50% of respondents (48%) believed there was too little waste in the NHS’s spending. Only 21% disagreed.

In the poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, 34 per cent of those surveyed believed the health service will not be able to spend the new £12bn National Insurance tax hike efficiently. 37 percent believed that it would. 

According to an NHS spokesperson, the NHS has the best health service in the country, and the administrative costs are less than 2p per pound. This compares with 5p in Germany or 6p in France. 

“Managers are crucial to ensure that the NHS has the correct staff with the skills and knowledge to provide the necessary improvements for patients as set out in Long Term Plan.” 

British taxpayers are being warned that Boris Johnson’s manifesto-busting NHS aid will be “gobbled up” permanently by the NHS, with delays and waiting list here to stay.

Fears that the cash injection will be swallowed have been raised because the NHS was not given any targets. Already, NHS leaders have complained that the amount isn’t sufficient to address the backlog.

Under proposals, half of the £10bn a year will be spent on social care in 2023 before the full amount is devoted to the care sector in 2025 and, in theory, the NHS reverts to its normal budget.

Critics raised concerns about the plan. They claimed that if NHS embarks on a massive recruitment drive to fill staffing shortages, then the NHS will have to spend a larger budget. 

It is believed that Mr Javid also wrote to an independent pay review board, asking for updated salaries recommendations for “very senior managers…for 2022-2023”.

Sajid Javid is the Health Secretary and has authorized the reform of NHS management. He also plans to abolish existing pay levels to encourage the recruitment of ‘best leaders’ from across the country.

He asked the Health Secretary to explain that the NHS must’recruite, retain, and motivate its senior staff’. The Telegraph reported that the Senior Salaries Review Body would need to suggest a revised VSM-pay framework. 

The RCN union stated earlier this month that it is still deciding on its next steps after 89% of the most recent pollers indicated they were ready to participate in industrial action.  

Nursing leaders responded to the survey by saying that members feel ‘disrespected’ and devalued over the offer of 3 percent and that this would not address large staff shortages.

However Government has insisted the 3 per cent pay rise, which it says increased nurses pay by an average of £1,000 a year has been ‘rightly received’.

Like many NHS workers unions, the RCN disagrees and is campaigning to get its members a 1-year, 12.5 percent pay increase.