UKH

After what has to be the most gruelling year and a half in my 34 years in the NHS, we have been rewarded with a millionth part of a medal each, a 1% pay rise, and the fading memories of Thursday night clapping.

We love the NHS, but not enough to properly fund and support it it seems.

Last week I walked to an appointment in the community near my team base. A fifteen minute walk on a nice summers morning during which I was wished good morning or said hello to four times. I then remembered that I had left my NHS badge on. Those greetings were, for me, a real bonus, and this is London I'm talking about!

1% is a real kick in the bollocks, although it beats the 0% other public sector workers are getting. Still, someone has to 'pay for' the hundreds of containers of rotting, substandard PPE littering the country, (and the huge fees given to cronies for doing very little).

The medal is a strange thing, a George Cross is as big as gallantry awards go and the NHS joins Malta and the RUC as the only countries/organisations (IIRC) to receive it. It's better than a plastic plaque or other corporate 'award', but I can see how it could be seen as a “Well done, have a cream bun, no, you’re not worth a pay rise - now get back to work” in terms of recognition from a less than grateful government.

Thank you, for what it's worth.

You've described the country's current mental state in microcosm. Huge importance placed on socially compelled, performative, empty gestures in lieu of anything requiring actual action.

Dear government: I'm happy to pay more tax for better services. Please take my money.

I wonder how much of this comes from government and how much from queenie.

If from the government then it's a bit of a slap in the face.

If from queenie then it's very nice, there's not much more she could personally do.

Muttley fodder. The organisation actually needs investment, better treatment, more staff and a fairer pay rise.

She's seen more governments than most of us have had hot dinners. Imagine her first PM as Queen was Churchill, and every single one since.

I doubt she does anything to please any PM, of any party. 

It's needed that for decades, but it's not free and won't run on sentiment, which sadly is all most folk are prepared to pay when push comes to shove. 

You can make voluntary payments to the HMRC bank account if it’d help your conscience. 

recipients of honours etc are selected by committee - (in this instance it's the george cross committee of the cabinet office, I'm led be believe)

I think it's clear enough, the crown is nothing but a auto-approval-stamp (or not when it suits to kick legislation and the like into the long grass). in the past other governments haven't been so shamelessly brazen.

we've got to ask, what do we want from her, soon to be him? should he or she have a view and a hand in things - or just lend their image to create a veneer of propriety?....

Any recipient of the VC or GC is also awarded an annuity. I think it is currently £ 10,000 per annum. What do you think the chances of each NHS employee getting this are? Sadly I suspect they will get a share of about 7.5 pence a year each.

You don't really understand how taxation pays for public services, do you? 

Thanks for taking the time to, what? Let everyone know you don't give a shit? Edgy.

Maybe there will be a lottery for NHS staff for one to get to wear it each month. Whoever wins also gets the cash.

In Scotland the NHS got a £500 bonus and 4% pay rise.

In Northern Ireland they got £500, pay rise under discussion.

In Wales they got £735, pay rise under discussion.

In England we got f*ck all and an offer of 1%

Our trust offered us a choice of a commemorative coin or a badge in recognition of our efforts during the pandemic. Collectively we told them where to shove it.

It’s not a matter of conscience. It’s a matter of dignity and respect.

But I want to pay for public services, not for Tory donors summer houses. Any link to where I can do that?

Don't worry!! 

Boris was telling everyone how the millions we paid to the EU each week could be invested in the NHS.

Like most politicians,  I'm sure he will keep his promises.

Staggering. I'm trying to imagine the mindset of the senior management that thought this was a good idea but I just can't do it. WTF were they thinking, which planet were they on, etc.

We got badges. We didn’t get new equipment to replace the semi broken kit we use in theatre every day. I don’t even think about a pay rise.. that’s such a low priority compared to the actual harm that will happen to our patients if the govt doesn’t sort its priorities out.

Actually, a significant benefit to offer staff at a lot of trusts would be free parking, but they've probably buggered that up with the contracts they've signed with the car park sharks.

Obviously some staff use public transport, offer equivalent subsidies for that.

Nope, thinking about it again, I'd go for the commemorative coin.

I actually think that a significant proportion of the population would be ok with a tax increase if they could be sure that it would go into the NHS and be used effectively.

Trouble is that nobody would trust our politicians to actually do that.

Edit: did you not even get a choice of coin or badge ☹️

We got a key ring and new harsher HR policies being implemented in October. 

The problem is this government(and many in the past too) is wedded to low taxation and various governments have persuaded the population having more money in their pockets is in all ways a good thing.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes 'there is no such thing as a free lunch'. Yes, low taxes are great - more money to spend as you like - until you want good public services.

I'm not criticising the NHS - it and its staff do a job beyond compare, but they are seriously underfunded and we have a government who think 1% pay increase is reasonable.

Dave

You do wonder about the mentality of senior managers. Maybe someone on the exec has a mate who needed a few grand for his keyring business.

A f****** key ring???

I think the public generally have no concept of how much extra it will cost to fund the nhs better, education, council services, railways, or infrastructure... it's almost an impossible task now. Most have had below or minimal funding for decades, to catch up lost investment will take decades, even if they put 2-3% on all income tax brackets tomorrow. 

It's been great for countries that export goods to the uk, those extra pounds in public pockets have been spent on no end of nice imports! 

Thanks for taking the time to let everyone know you’re a good member of society. Peak UKC.

Where in Yorkshire are you? Here’s how to donate if it’s Leeds area. 
https://www.leedshospitalscharity.org.uk/

I completely agree that we shouldn’t need to feel the urge to give more money to public services, they should of course be properly funded in the first place. 

I understand that I dump my self employed tax and NI owed in to a HMRC bank account, with no further record as to how it’s spent.

Which is why many countries are going after big business that take the p*ss out of the global tax system. Booking profit in one low tax domicile whilst operating in others. There is a plan to fix this, but we dont want any of that free money.

It would be much easier to sell to the tories in the shires, than an extra 1p in income tax in the top bracket. But it may affect share price, which is enough to get them frothing at the mouth.

Britain will seek to exclude the City of London’s financial services companies from a global tax overhaul targeting the world’s most profitable businesses agreed between G7 finance ministers last weekend.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/09/uk-city-of-london-exempt-g...

A badge/coin or a rota for August so I can plan my life, be happier and more productive at work? Mmm, let me think...

No, you're right.

No further record?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-public-spending-was-calculat...

Oh, you want a record of how those actual pounds that you paid were spent, and whether or not they benefited you directly...

Do you think your life would be better if we all paid less tax, and lived in even more of a shithole? How are we going to pay for the supergalactic black hole in the public finances following covid? Maybe someone else will pick up the tab, so you don't have to, because you deserve your hard earned, whereas they don't? Or we could just get out of the mess by no longer funding education, health and social care, councils, transport, etc. because at the moment there's cash just sloshing around - you can see, because when you go into a school or hospital it looks more like a luxury hotel than a hopelessly underfunded public institution, doesn't it?

No, I personally don't particularly want to know how my tax £s are spent - that point was for the benefit of anyone else chucking a few quid in more than they're due. 

Thank you for your assumptive rant, delightfully none of it is my belief and I don't think I insinuated that it was.  

But, for what it's worth, I do my own accounts. I work purely business to business, so all my income is invoiced and declared. I know for a fact that I don't claim every single penny as an expense that I could, therefore I've over paid in tax and NI for the last 14 years. Not much probably, a few beers a month maybe but it's all relative. This coming SA will see me barely pay any tax or NI due to a significant part of my business being closed for the best part of 15 months. So if someone in a better position could make up the shortfall, it'd be much appreciated  

So, there is a perfectly good record, and given that, you don't want to see it. It's not the clearest point I've ever heard made.

Perhaps not the clearest I’d made. I was trying to say that anyone would be welcome to over pay their tax, but there would be no mechanism to find out if it went to funding whatever it is they wished it to. 

I don't think many people want to be shit members of society, truth be told.

Is any expression of a personal view "virtue-signalling", or just ones you don't hold yourself?

Hang on. Do you honestly think MonkeyPuzzle was saying that they'd just donate some of more of their own income under the current tax code? When people say "I'd be happy to pay more tax", they mean "I'd be happy to pay a higher rate that applied to everyone with my level of income". You get that, right? No one would want to pay a higher rate while others didn't, because that would have the disadvantage of less money in their pocket, without the benefit of funding public services - totally illogical. But many of us would vote for higher tax rates that affected us personally, because we'd rather not live in a shithole. That's what "I'd be happy to pay more tax" means.

There wasn't a "think" involved, just a reflexive sneer as far as I can tell.

You are absolutely spot on. Funding the NHS is a bottomless pit, and always will be. No government which attempted to get anywhere near raising sufficient through taxation would survive the next election, and those who speak glibly about adding "a few more pence" on income tax to help towards the shortfall are often the very people who don't pay any income tax any way. 

 I wouldn't pretend to know the answers, but what is sure is that our present system having governments with a short life term is not helping long term planning. It is going to take a mega shift in our whole outlook on politics, aims, and attitude towards collective moral responsibility before we get anywhere near achieving an improvement. Whilst the pandemic did bring out a degree of bonding in the face of adversity, and examples of amazing courage and selflessness , it has also highlighted how much underlying selfishness there is in our species which will continue to impede social progress. 

The government despite its landslide of seats has minority voter support, we shouldn't simply assume public sentiment and policy are in line.

jk

I'll get flamed for this... but if everyone is going to benefit from better healthcare, education, infrastructure etc..  then the zero rate tax threshold needs to be lowered to bring more people back in to fund it. The middle tax brackets need cranking up way more. If you own a house, multiple cars and holiday abroad then they need to be paying more when basic health and education is struggling for funds.

Businesses benefit from a healthy and educated population, they use national infrastructure etc. so they'll need to pay more too. 

The problem is to catch up the tax increase necessary would kill the economy, some businesses and many households. The uk is destined to have barely passable services and a ton of debt for ever more. 

Fixed that for you.

No flaming from this poster, that's the reality of the situation.

He he he