Thousands of NHS managers earning more than MPs

Throughout the pandemic there have been frequent demands for more investment in the NHS. In October, Rishi Sunak was forced to announce further investment of almost £6 billion to tackle England’s record NHS waiting list. Between 2010 and 2025, the health budget is expected to have increased by 42 per cent; with NHS England’s resource budget set to rise to £162.6 billion over that period. But is all that money being spent wisely?

For new figures from the Department of Health show that, while the public is crying out for frontline services, the number of well-paid NHS managers now run into the thousands. According to health minster Edward Argar there are now some 7,018 managers with total earnings of between £80,000 to £129,999 in the NHS – more than many of his parliamentary colleagues who collect an MPs’ salary of £81,932. These are total earnings, which include non-basic-pay elements such as overtime, geographic allowances, or on-call payments and cover the 12 month period up until June 2021.