The Independent has reported that the National Health Service will be forced to endure billions in cuts, after the government underestimated pension costs
Thanks to a miscalculation in the pension costs of public sector workers, the NHS is set to suffer £2.7bn worth of cuts.
New analysis by the House of Commons library has highlighted the fact that the government underestimated costs by as much as £4bn per year.
According to the Labour party, which released this research, that amount of money would cover the salaries of more than 61,900 nurses.
Until 2020 the additional costs will be covered by the government.
Labour is treating the data as proof that “you cannot trust the Tories with our NHS”.
Peter Dowd, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the treasury, said:
“Billions of pounds are being quietly cut from our NHS, due to a poisonous cocktail of disastrous economic mismanagement and spiteful behaviour. These cuts are the equivalent of paying the salary of over 61,000 nurses a year. Nurses whom we desperately need after eight years of crushing austerity in our NHS.
“The chancellor must immediately own up and commit to meeting these extra costs, not just push them on to slashed and struggling public services.
“All this just goes to show, you cannot trust the Tories with our NHS.”
The quiet announcement came after experts warned that a government pledge to invest £145m in emergency department upgrades and 900 more beds would “not scratch the surface” of shortages which severely affected the NHS last winter.
The treasury had said there would be no additional money for the NHS or after Theresa May pledged an additional £20bn a year for the health service by 2023, but that funding will not kick in until 2019.
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