‘It is overwhelmingly women, frankly, black women’: The low-paid NHS staff who missed out on COVID bonus
Thousands of staff who risked their lives working in hospitals during the pandemic still haven’t been given the COVID bonus awarded to NHS staff last year.
Generally, it is lower-paid staff who have missed out, and campaigners say a high proportion are female and from ethnic minorities.
Sky News has surveyed outsourcing companies which employ cleaners, porters and caterers within the NHS and found while some have paid their staff the £1,600 award, others haven’t.
Much depends on what kind of contract the worker is under as to whether the company was able to claim money off the Department of Health. Unions say this is symptomatic of how staff in hospitals are losing their rights.
Dima Hooper, 57, is a member of the catering staff at Homerton Hospital in east London, employed by outsourcing company ISS.
In 2021, she nearly died from COVID and ended up on a ventilator in intensive care at the Royal Free Hospital in north London where Sky News filmed her recovery.
Dima Hooper, an NHS caterer, told Sky News in 2021 she was ‘just lucky I’m alive’
Dima who has been left with long COVID says she “definitely” contracted the illness at work, and it is unfair that she hasn’t been paid the bonus.
She said: “A lot of us risked our lives during that time, working six days a week, 12 hours a day through that period.
“Some people lost their lives. Some people can’t work anymore. I just think it’s not fair because we (were) all there at the same time, doing the work.”
Hospitals were the trenches of the COVID battle and anyone who witnessed it would remember the caterers delivering food to wards, the cleaners rubbing every surface armed with antiseptic spray, and the porters keeping spirits up, but also taking the dead to the hospital morgue.
It is these staff, who are often on non-NHS contacts, who are therefore excluded from the bonus.
Some of Dima’s fellow caterers at Homerton did get the bonus, if their contract dated back before catering was outsourced, and they remained on what is called an “Agenda for Change” contract.
ISS say their staff “typically” don’t qualify, and it’s the same for many other big companies in this market.
Outside Homerton Hospital, we spoke to a group of campaigners calling for the work to be taken back in-house, with a petition signed by over 500 staff members at the hospital, outraged their colleagues didn’t get the bonus.
Retired Union worker George Binette said: “It is overwhelmingly women and overwhelmingly, frankly, black women who have not received this bonus, despite the fact that they were facing many of the same risks in terms of contracting the virus during the course of the pandemic.”
Occupational therapist Diana Swingler, who got the bonus, added: “They are a crucial part of the team. We are all one team, and that’s why it’s all the more shocking that they’re being treated differently and unequally.”
ISS told Sky News: “Typically ISS employees are outside the scope of government NHS benefits, however, eligible employees at Homerton University Hospital have received a non-consolidated payment in line with additional funding and criteria from the government.
“We value the contribution of every ISS team member and remain in discussions with relevant parties to extend this to all ISS employees working alongside the NHS.”
We approached other companies in this field. Serco which supports 18 hospitals with porters, cleaners and caterers says it has paid staff “where appropriate funding has been provided”.
Another big player in hospital catering Aramark UK has “not received any government funding to pay bonuses” to their NHS employees.
Yet, all 1,675 Essentia staff working at Guys and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust got the bonus because they are “part of the trust workforce”.
G4S said it would not comment.
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Mitie, which works with over 40 NHS Trusts, told us: “We have always argued strongly on behalf of our colleagues for parity of treatment with their NHS peers and we’re pleased that funding was confirmed for this payment earlier this year.”
The GMB Union says this only happened after 97% of GMB members at St George’s Hospital, south London, backed action in an indicative strike ballot.
It all adds up to a confusing hotchpotch, where it seems a lot depends on what kind of contact staff members have and how closely linked it is to the NHS “Agenda For Change” pay deal for those directly employed by the NHS.
Rachel Harrison from the GMB Union believes “tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of workers”, have not got the bonus.
She added: “Ultimately, it is down to the extent of privatisation across the NHS and that is why we are urging the new Labour government to honour their pledge and get everybody back in-house and back on NHS contacts.”
GMB Union’s Rachel Harrison calls on Labour to honour the COVID bonus for all NHS workers
The Department of Health and Social Care says it provided funding for over 27,000 staff in non-NHS organisations to receive the bonus, but it’s clear that thousands still didn’t qualify under the terms of their contracts.
A DHSC spokesperson said: “Independent organisations providing NHS services are responsible for their own terms and conditions of employment, including pay scales and any non-consolidated pay awards they choose to make.
“Non-NHS organisations were able to apply to be reimbursed for the non-consolidated payments to eligible staff after the department stepped in to provide funding to help deliver them.”
Outside Homerton Hospital, caterer Sandra McCarthy, who didn’t get the bonus, summed up the feeling.
Describing the weeks that people came on to their doorsteps to clap for NHS workers, she said “It’s like people clapped for the others and left us out.”
Victims of grooming gangs and modern slavery are being denied compensation by a government scheme because of their criminal records, Sky News has learned.
Analysis of official figures by Sky News’ Data & Forensics team shows more than 11,000 victims of crime over the last decade have been denied payouts because of their unspent convictions, including children.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority can award money to victims of violent crime, including sexual abuse.
It is the only government compensation scheme for victims – for those unable to work due to injuries, the money can be vital.
But, if an applicant has a criminal record, they are automatically refused compensation with limited exceptions.
Those with unspent convictions sometimes receive reduced sums.
Sky News has found that at least 130 children with criminal records have received reduced awards over the last 10 years, including 50 victims of sex abuse, four victims of brain damage, and one child who lost sight in an eye.
This rule on unspent convictions is based on the idea that public funds should only compensate blameless victims of crime and not, for example, a gang member who was injured in a fight.
But many argue the policy punishes those who have been forced to offend by exploiters, as well as victims of child sexual abuse.
‘I was frustrated that I wasn’t being believed’
Arthur Sherry, 43, from Perranporth in Cornwall was regularly abused by his babysitter from the age of five, including suffering rape.
In 2008, he reported it to Devon and Cornwall Police, alongside two other victims. He alleges the police did not believe him, and charges were not brought against his abuser.
Arthur Sherry, who was abused as a child, says he was denied compensation because of his criminal record
Arthur became angry and descended into addiction as a “coping mechanism”, becoming suicidal, and was repeatedly arrested for minor offences, such as making false calls to the emergency services.
“I wasn’t getting support from any agencies, and no one asked me, ‘Why is this man ringing the emergency services all the time?'”
“It was a cry for help. I was frustrated that I wasn’t being believed.”
Eventually, Arthur’s abuser, Shaun Burton, was convicted of multiple offences against children, including 11 counts of indecency with a child in relation to Mr Sherry.
But when Arthur, who suffers from complex PTSD, subsequently tried to make a claim through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in 2013, it was rejected because of his criminal record and because he submitted his application beyond CICA’s time limit.
He was not allowed to appeal the decision.
Arthur, aged 12 in the picture, was regularly abused by his babysitter, Shaun Burton, from the age of five
Many survivors of grooming gangs have criminal records due to being exploited and coerced.
While the government recently announced plans to disregard child prostitution convictions for these victims, many are urging authorities to go further and pardon all related offences.
Former victims’ commissioner Dame Vera Baird said: “They were not exercising their own free will and voluntarily committing crime, so there should be a discretion to look at that and say, ‘No, that wasn’t their fault’.
“They should get compensation for all the evil that was done to them by that gang.”
In 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recommended that the government amend the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme so that “applicants with unspent convictions are not automatically excluded where offences are likely to be linked to the circumstances of their sexual abuse as a child”.
The government has refused to act on this recommendation.
However, Labour MP Sarah Champion has tabled an amendment to the upcoming Victims and Courts Bill, hoping to implement it, as well as widen eligibility to the scheme.
“Victims are seen as running a cannabis farm and get a conviction, before it actually turns out that they were a victim of modern slavery.
“These people, who are very clearly recognised as victims and survivors, aren’t getting the money that’s owed to them. The system is broken and the ministers need to get rid of it.”
‘I was frustrated that I wasn’t being believed,’ Arthur tells Sky News’ Alice Porter
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A government spokesperson said: “Last year, more than £164m was paid out under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme to victims, and we are going further by removing the time limit for civil personal injury claims and doubling Home Office funding for services supporting adult victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.
“Changes to the way we compensate victims have been considered by successive governments, and our priority must always be to treat all victims of violence equally.”
Devon and Cornwall Police said: “Tackling sexual offending is a key priority for Devon & Cornwall Police and we are working hard to bring offenders to justice.
“We take reports of all sexual offences seriously and will carry out thorough investigations into reports, looking at all viable lines of enquiry.”
Nathan Gill was at Manchester airport, about to board a flight to Russia, when accepting bribes finally caught up with him.
Gill, the former leader of Reform UK Wales and a one-time member of the European Parliament, who on Friday was jailed for 10-a-half-years, was stopped by police before boarding and had his phone seized in 2021.
While they interrogated him, his home in Anglesey was raided, with detectives discovering more electronics and cash piles of €5,000 (£4,400) and $5,000 (£3,800) respectively.
Nathan Gill being questioned. Pic: Met Police
The evidence on Gill’s phone would damn him – he was in contact with a pro-Russian politician in Ukraine, Oleg Voloshyn, and had agreed to boost pro-Russia viewpoints in exchange for money.
Voloshyn would dictate the statement, and Gill would repeat it – in some cases, almost word for word – in the media or the European Parliament.
In one instance, Gill appeared on the now-banned Ukrainian TV channel, 112 Ukraine, which was known for its pro-Russian stance.
In the interview, he was critical of the Ukrainian decision to open criminal proceedings against Viktor Medvedchuk, the owner of the television channel and a personal friend of Vladimir Putin.
Nathan Gill. Pic: Met Police
Speaking to the outlet, he said he was “very concerned” about the investigation, and wondered whether it was meant to silence “opposition politicians”.
Prosecutors said messages on Gill’s phone showed that this was at his paymaster’s instruction, with Voloshyn offering a “reward” if he would say that it was unacceptable to persecute a person for their political convictions.
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Voloshyn also offered the MEP €2,000 (£1,750) if he would express concern that Mr Medvedchuk could no longer mediate with Russia on Ukraine’s behalf, the court heard.
He added that “V” – understood to be Mr Medvedchuk – did not believe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had “true intentions to pursue a peace agenda”, prosecutors said.
Bundles of cash were recovered from Gill’s home. Pic: Met Police
Sure enough, Gill appeared on 112 Ukraine saying it was “very sad” that Mr Medvedchuk felt he no longer had Mr Zelensky’s backing to act as a mediator with Russia, and suggested that using him “would be a sensible thing to do”.
The messages traded in innuendo, referring to the exchange of “Xmas gifts” or “postcards” instead of money.
But as the pair grew more comfortable with each other, they bargained more explicitly, with the sum of “£5k” quoted for Gill’s work.
Dominic Murphy, head of Counter Terrorism Command at the Met Police, said Gill had also offered access to other MEPs.
“This is where we get into that slightly odd situation where it feels very much like a real effort to undermine democracy here,” he said.
“This is Nathan Gill reaching out to individuals that he knows, who are Brits, who might be willing to be paid to go and make speeches.”
Commander Murphy declined to name names, but said there was an ongoing investigation and that other people had been spoken to.
None of the pro-Brexit MEPs Gill allegedly approached have been interviewed under caution.
Pic: Met Police
Police confirmed there was no evidence to suggest Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was involved.
Gill was stopped at Manchester Airport on 13 September 2021, under schedule 3 of the Counter Terrorism and Borders Security Act 2019.
He offered police no explanation for his actions and answered no comment in a March 2022 police interview.
But the 52-year-old is believed to have had financial problems.
Mr Murphy added that while Gill appeared to have pro-Russian sympathies, he was primarily motivated by money.
The ex-MEP has been jailed for 10-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to eight counts of bribery between December 2018 and July 2019.
Following an investigation by counter-terrorism police, officers said they believe Gill likely took a minimum of £40,000 in cash and was offering to introduce other British MEPs so they could be bribed.
Voloshyn was picked up by the authorities on a trip to the US in 2021, which enabled the FBI to discover his end of the conversation.
He is now believed to be in Russia, but has been sanctioned by the UK government over allegations of trying to destabilise Ukraine.
Nathan Gill pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery over pro-Russian statements. Including to media outlet 112 Ukraine. Pic: Met Police
He remains wanted in both Britain and Ukraine.
A Reform UK spokesman said: “Mr Gill’s actions were reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable.
“We are glad that justice has been served and fully welcome the sentence Nathan Gill has received.”
Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader, said: “An investigation into Russian and Chinese influence over British politics would be welcome.”
The MP for Clacton previously described his former colleague as a “bad apple” and said he was “shocked” after Gill pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery.
He said: “Any political party can find in their midst all sorts of terrible people.
“You can never, ever guarantee 100% that everyone you meet in your life, you shake hands with in the pub, is a good person.”
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