NURSES face a shocking real-terms pay cut of £1,600 this year if the Tory government imposes another 3 per cent pay settlement, the TUC has warned.

The potential rise, which would mirror what most health workers received last year, would be swallowed up by runaway energy prices, the union confederation said.

The cost of fuel, gas and electricity is rising 40 times faster than sluggish NHS wages, it highlighted, while the consumer prices index inflation rate is currently at a 40-year high of 9 per cent.

A 3 per cent increase would affect other health staff, the TUC stressed, with paramedics suffering a £2,000 hit, maternity care assistants taking home £1,200 less and porters’ pay plummeting by £1,000.

The cost-of-living emergency, worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, comes after a “brutal” decade of Tory austerity and declining real-terms wages, which the union body said has led to“crippling staff shortages.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Our brilliant key workers in the NHS helped get Britain through the pandemic, but many are now at breaking point.

“Any offer that falls below the cost of living will be a hammer blow to staff morale and many NHS workers may choose to vote with their feet.

“It’s time the government started to undo the damage of the past decade.”

Another below-inflation pay recommendation from the NHS Pay Review Body, which is due to report to ministers imminently, would also see England suffer a whopping £2.1 billion loss in economic activity, the TUC argued.  

North-west and north-east England as well as Yorkshire and Humber would suffer the biggest proportionate hits to household spending power, it said. 

GMB national officer Rachel Harrison told the Morning Star: “Cost of living expenses continue to rise whilst NHS workers wait for their delayed pay increase. 

“NHS workers deserve a significant pay uplift which includes fair overtime rates for all and absorbs cost of living and pension increases.

“Failure to award this will result in many more NHS workers leaving for jobs elsewhere.” 

And Unison head Christina McAnea warned of disaster, saying: “Overworked, demoralised and experienced staff need much more if they are to be persuaded to stay and see the NHS through the worst crisis in its history.”