Trusts have been trying to balance their books by jacking up rents in nurses' homes by an average of f100 per month across the country. In Leicester, the increase was a massive 250 percent, from £48 to £140 a month.
Student nurses in the East Midlands have been spearheading a militant fightback against these massive increases.
Grants (bursaries) for student nurses are pegged at just £4,260 Their long working a car weeks running right through the year, and the requirement to work 1,000 hours on the wards as part of their training, mean that nursing students miss out on long vacations in which other Poor now. jobless later? students earn extra cash.
The fightback has centred strongly on the East Midlands, Leicester and Derby, but there have also been actions in London and York.
Spirits have been raised by the news that after protests by over 100 student nurses, Community Trust bosses in Northampton have suspended the imposition of a 50 percent rent increase to allow for negotiations.
With Trusts across the country cutting back on nurse training and seeking to minimise the numbers of qualified staff they employ, student nurses are not even certain of a job when they qualify.
The fight, organised by health union UNISON, goes on. It could help to radicalise the rest of the NHS workforce. is a profitable business for developers according to housing specialists in Leeds.
Ron Strong of the central accommodation agency Unipol has pointed out that:
«The return on student development is better than most investments.
"A £1.5m development might supply 130 rooms at around f12,500 each. If each student paid £35 per week for 43 weeks of the year, then the return on the investment is about 12 percent."
Many students are paying far more for inferior accommodation. They are not just getting a bum deal: they are being brutally ripped off. ably have the purpose of counteracting the decision in some way. MORE and more cheapskate employers are now refusing to pay sickness pay to their staff as a result of the Tories scrapping the scheme under which the government used to reimburse 80 percent of the cost.
The changed policy. introduced in April, is designed to save 2700 million for the Exchequer. but advice agencies are reporting a six-fold increase in workers raising problems over sick pay.