‘Outrageous’ that staff pay increase not fully funded as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Trust which provides health services for the people of Fenland faces £6.2m deficit
The decision not to give an NHS Trust funding to fully cover the cost of staff pay increases has been branded as “outrageous”.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), which provides health services for people in Fenland, said it was not able to fully recover the costs of the latest staff pay award.
It added that it is also facing a £6.2million deficit so far this year.
The CPFT is responsible for running Fulbourn Hospital near Cambridge, the Cavell Centre in Peterborough, as well as other physical, mental health, and specialist health services in the community.
The chief executive of the Trust, Steve Grange, said CPFT had been “particularly impacted” by not being able to fully recover the income to fund the pay award for staff.
At a board of directors meeting this week (November 27) one board member said it was “outrageous” the staff pay increase had not been fully funded.
Eileen Milner, the Trust chair, added that it was “simply not right” that the pay increase she said staff deserved had not been fully funded.
Lauren Gable, chief finance officer, explained that not being able to fully recover the costs of the increased pay award for staff was adding pressure to the Trust’s finances.
She told the board that as of October the Trust was facing a £6.2m deficit, which she said was £1.5million more than the planned deficit of £4.7million.
Ms Gable added that while the Trust had made “significant efficiency” savings of £6.7million so far this year, this was still £2.2million under what had been planned.
A report she presented to the committee said: “[The deficit] is driven by pay award pressures, bank and agency costs above budgeted levels, mainly the use of medical locums, out of area placements being above plan within adult and specialist mental health, and efficiency underperformance.
“The forecast remains breakeven, which is dependent on the delivery of the planned efficiency target and mitigations.”
