WATCH: Campaigners in Northamptonshire post slow handclap videos to protest over three per cent pay rise for NHS staff

People across Northamptonshire have been joining a mass slow handclap against the government’s three per cent pay rise for NHS staff, in a campaign backed by the country’s biggest trade union.

Northamptonshire Needs to Work, a community-led campaign group, have recorded a series of ‘slow clap for carers’ videos to communicate their disappointment at the low pay carers receive. It also aims to highlight the low pay of care staff and the resulting problems in recruitment.

The posting of the videos coincides with the two-year anniversary of ‘clap for carers’ which started at the end of March 2020, when weekly applause for NHS staff, carers and key workers ran across the UK for ten weeks during the first national lockdown.

UNISON East Midlands regional organiser Cathy Symes says: “Low pay and poor working conditions have resulted in services being unable to recruit or retain the staff they need. In 2020, we stood on our doorsteps to show our gratitude to carers and now they need our support.

“Care services across Northamptonshire are in crisis. Over the winter, services across the county were forced to declare a critical incident due to staffing shortages. We cannot be in the same position next winter.”

UNISON East Midlands is seeking to build a coalition of people working in the care sector and those using carers to call on the NHS, Local Government, and private providers across Northamptonshire, to work together to create a new deal for care in the county.