The government has proposed increasing NHS salaries by 1%.
26 Mar 2021 | Full Fact's weekly news
View in your browser ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
Daily Mail wrong to claim NHS pay is going up 1.7% across the board
Following the government’s proposal to raise NHS salaries by 1% next year, the Daily Mail reported that “many” NHS staff will actually receive a 1.7% pay increase.
But this isn’t accurate, and misrepresents the extra 0.7% funding the government has put into NHS staff pay.
In addition to the 1% rise, the government plans to spend 0.7% more on staff salaries as a whole. This extra funding will only grant a minority of staff larger salary increases, and the majority won’t benefit. So it’s wrong for the Daily Mail to claim that “many” staff will receive a 1.7% pay rise.
NHS pay is a complicated topic and has a ‘band’ system to calculate salaries. We explain this in our article.
How NHS pay works ([link removed])
No-one can control what happens next.
But as independent, impartial fact checkers, we rely on individuals like you to guarantee that dangerously false inaccuracies can be scrutinised and challenged.
As news continues to fracture and divide communities, could you chip in to support an accurate and fair debate today?
Yes, I’ll chip in £5 to support fact checking ([link removed])
Yes I'll become a supporter ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
Covid vaccine exports: UK vs EU ([link removed])
There’s been much discussion about vaccine exportation recently. A viral tweet claimed that while the EU has exported 41 million doses, mostly to the UK, the UK has exported none. In a statement, European Commission President Ursula also repeated this 41 million figure.
But this is how many vaccines have been exported from vaccine manufacturers in EU states, rather than by the EU as an organisation.
As for the UK’s vaccine exports, it is likely that this figure is zero.
Of the vaccines approved for use in the UK, only the AstraZeneca vaccine is made here. The UK government and AstraZeneca have repeatedly declined to say how many Covid-19 vaccines the UK has exported.
European Council President, Charles Michel, suggested the UK had imposed an “outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory.”
Boris Johnson denied this, asserting: “We have not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine.” So if vaccine exports haven’t been blocked, why haven’t any been exported?
This seems to be because of the specifics of the contracts the UK signed with producers and reportedly how quickly vaccine fulfilment negotiations with AstraZeneca and other firms began.
Have the EU been blocking vaccine exports? ([link removed])
** How do you measure a disaster like the pandemic?
------------------------------------------------------------
Since the start of the pandemic, our readers have regularly asked us to investigate the impact of the pandemic and claims that lockdowns are doing more harm than good.
Every death is a tragedy, and more than 120,000 people have lost their lives in the UK.
Other measures we can look at include number of years of life lost, and the harm caused to individuals.
We’ve published a deep dive into the data, looking at quality of life indicators and the number of years lost to Covid.
Quality of life and the pandemic ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
Burnt-out police car in Bristol protests was not fake ([link removed])
Social media users have implied that an incident at Bristol’s ‘Kill The Bill’ protest may have been staged.
An Instagram user searched the number plate of a vandalised police car and discovered its MOT had expired, branding it a “prop”.
Although it’s true the vehicle’s MOT had expired, it doesn’t really matter as police cars are exempt from MOT tests.
MOT tests are enforced under the Road Traffic Act 1988, but certain categories of vehicles, including police vehicles, do not have to be registered through MOT certification.
So, although the vehicle’s registration has expired, this does not mean it was part of a set-up.
MOT exemptions ([link removed])
MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* Here’s exactly what Nadine Dorries said on Woman’s Hour about nurses’ salaries ([link removed])
* AstraZeneca does not translate to ‘weapon that kills’ ([link removed])
* Beware of scam texts claiming to be from Royal Mail ([link removed])
* Saying your religion is ‘Freedom’ on the census won’t make it a recognised belief ([link removed])
Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
Stop the spread of bad information ([link removed])
Find these updates useful? We'd be incredibly grateful if you could share our fact checks and help more people access good information.
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]'s%20the%20deal%20with%20NHS%20pay%20rises%2C%20via%20%40FullFact: https%3A%2F%2Ffullfact.org%2Fhealth%2Fnhs-pay-bands-march-2021%2F Tweet ([link removed]'s%20the%20deal%20with%20NHS%20pay%20rises%2C%20via%20%40FullFact: https%3A%2F%2Ffullfact.org%2Fhealth%2Fnhs-pay-bands-march-2021%2F)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
[link removed]'s%20the%20deal%20with%20NHS%20pay%20rises%2C%20via%20%40FullFact Share ([link removed]'s%20the%20deal%20with%20NHS%20pay%20rises%2C%20via%20%40FullFact)
============================================================
All the best,
Team Full Fact
** Follow us ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
** Like us ([link removed])
** Follow us ([link removed])
Have any questions or feedback? Please ** get in touch via our contact form ([link removed])
. We do not respond to direct replies to this email address.
Find out ** how Full Fact is funded ([link removed])
.
Copyright © Full Fact 2021 - All rights reserved
A registered charity (no. 1158683) and a non-profit company (no. 6975984) limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales.
Our mailing address is:
2 Carlton Gardens, London, SW1Y 5AA
We use Mailchimp to send you our emails and to see which articles are most popular. ** Read our privacy policy ([link removed])
or ** Mailchimp's privacy policy ([link removed])
** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])
