I started on Band 2 which was around £16k at the time.
Within the NHS you can very easily bimble along and just hit the ceiling of your pay band as many of my former colleagues have done.
Equally there is a vast land of opportunity through education & development for those who want to "go and get it".
If you engage in that, learn and develop the sky really is the limit.
So we are back to the old thing that with s
elf drive and determination you can get to a level of your own choice.
As for nursing pay:
https://www.nurses.co.uk/careers-hub/nursing-pay-guide/
Between 2010 and 2015, standard Nursing wages increased by 2.2% - which wasn’t in line with inflation. Then, between 2015 and 2017, a 1% increase was implemented each year. However, the picture is starting to look a bit more positive for NHS nurses thanks to the ‘New Pay Deal’. That deal features a number of changes to existing bandings and pay:
- Over the next three years, nurses will see a minimum salary increase of 6.5%
- That increase will be structured in the following way for most bandings:
- 3 % in 2018/19
- 1.7% in 2019/20 plus a lump sum worth 1.1% paid in April 2019
- 1.7% in 2020/21
- These rates refer to top-of-band nurses – nurses at the bottom of their bandings could see increases of up to 29% over the next three years
- In some Band 8 and Band 9 positions, pay increases will be structured differently
- Band overlaps have been removed to ensure that promotions come with meaningful pay increases
- Importantly, the New Pay Deal is funded by new government money – not by removing funding from patient care
- Unsocial hours payments have not been affected.
I`ll agree about the optics but, as above, its the detail that matters.....