After a woeful performance in the pandemic and sterling work by the NHS it now appears that public funds are insufficient to increase NHS staff wages by more than one per cent and other essential workers on the state’s payroll, such as police and firefighters, will get no increase at all.

In contrast, rather than offer loans as it has to other businesses, the administration has bailed out the train operating companies, many owned by foreign entities, by taking over their liabilities and also paying a performance fee of up to 1.5 per cent of their cost base, in return for passenger receipts. All this when the official advice is to avoid public transport. The railways are well supplied with managers, whose wages are effectively paid by the state, to ensure performance. The performance fee seems little more than pure profit. For under a seven monthly period to the middle of last September £3.5 billion was paid. Now the cost will probably be some £6 billion. Small wonder public funds are insufficient to give NHS staff and other essential workers a well deserved pay rise.

S. Friedman

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