Responding to reports concerning funding for the 3% pay award for most NHS staff, the chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, said:

"It's important that this pay rise is fully funded without an impact on NHS patient care.

"It's not clear at this point how that will happen given that, due to COVID-19, the NHS still doesn't have its budget for the second half of the year. Until those conversations are complete, it's impossible to know what the impact on NHS budgets will be.

"One obvious gap, which is a long running problem, is NHS staff working on local authority contracts, for example in services like sexual health, because local authorities have not been funded for this increase but NHS staff will need to receive it."