Our series on the 2018 negotiations on nurses’ pay continues with what is shaping up to be the biggest stumbling block – the government’s insistence on linking pay rises to improved productivity

When health and social care secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs last autumn that the 1% pay cap for NHS staff had been scrapped, he said future pay rises would be dependent on ‘improved productivity’. Speaking in parliament, Mr Hunt said latitude the chancellor had given him in negotiating future pay rises was partly linked to productivity improvements to be negotiated at the same time.