Responding to the publication of the Department of Health and Social Care's submission to the Doctors and Dentists' Pay Review Body, and the NHS Pay Review body, the chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson said:

"NHS staff have worked tirelessly throughout this pandemic, delivering high quality care in near impossible conditions.

"A meaningful, real terms pay increase for 2021/22 would go some way towards recognising and rewarding the contribution and the sacrifices that the NHS workforce have made over the past year.

"It will come as no surprise then that today's suggestion from the Department of Health and Social Care, of a 1% pay rise for doctors, and 1.7% for NHS staff including nurses, is a disappointment – not just for the NHS workforce, but for trust leaders who also support a higher pay rise for their hardworking staff.

"Trust leaders fully acknowledge the challenging economic context we find ourselves in and indeed, yesterday’s Budget confirmed this was the case.

"But we went into this pandemic with grave workforce gaps and if we are going to retain staff, we must do more to support them in the face of current levels of exhaustion and low morale.

"Trust leaders will of course wait for the DDRB and NHSPRB processes to run their course, and we will be keenly awaiting their independent recommendations.

"Should the review bodies suggest a bigger pay rise than suggested by the Department of Health and Social Care – which trust leaders would be supportive of – then it is imperative not only that the government accepts this recommendation, but that they fully fund it as well. Given the increasing backlog of care, there is no room for trusts to re-prioritise existing funding."