This week’s budget will have a substantial impact on the NHS – just not in the way the Chancellor has talked about or may have hoped for.

Starting with pay, the Chancellor has announced that from April the minimum wage will rise to £12.71 per hour for people over the age of 21.

What the Chancellor seems to have forgotten is that in the NHS, many domestic support workers, housekeeping assistants, drivers, nursery assistants, security officers and some healthcare assistant and secretarial roles are currently paid lower than the proposed minimum wage increase. Unions estimated that at least 200,000 of these workers were impacted by the last increase of the minimum wage, and a similar number will likely be affected this time. In other words, the minimum wage increase is going to hit the heal

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