As an E grade senior staff nurse I will be in the dubious position of being senior to D grade staff nurses, but they will be getting paid more than myself! I may as well go down a grade, give up doing a diploma course this year and forget all about a career!
Jennie Slack, UK

What pay rise? With changes to married persons' allowance and MIRAS the average public sector worker will surely be worse off? How patronising and condescending of the government to think that people will not realise that. It is also very easy for Blair to talk of the vocational merits of public life with a wife reputedly earning in the region of a quarter of a million a year! How dare he make such comments!!!!!!
Chris I'Anson, UK

Being a head of a small primary school I welcome the pay rise, although I am disappointed that it is staged again. Heads of small schools have a substantial teaching commitment, yet the paperwork and demands on them match those of larger school heads who have more non teaching time. At present, salaries of heads of small schools can be less than those of a teacher with limited responsibilities in a larger school. That can't be fair.
Mr H Evans, UK

I am in the RAF and spend a good deal of time away from my family in difficult dirty conditions carrying out a difficult highly skilled job on Tornado aircraft and my wages after 18 years service are only £21,000. Teachers should get in touch with reality, and SHUT-UP.
Warren Cadd, Germany

Another knee-jerk response to solve a PR problem rather than any strategic direction or well thought-through long-term plan. Rather typical of the entire Labour Government policy (if you can call it that)
Stephen Webb, Indonesia

The government is obsessed with management. It is rarely a head alone who makes a good school. Experienced teachers' salaries have effectively decreased year on year for more than six years - this settlement goes nowhere near to redress the situation. Performance related pay will merely add to the demotivation of the 95% who won't get it because of the lack of money!
Nick Gunning, UK

I am an English Occupational therapist who has moved here (the U.S.) to achieve what I consider to be a more appropriate reimbursement for my services. When you consider the amount of responsibility put on the shoulders of health care staff (in comparison to other public and private sector workers) pay is still poor.
Mark Butterworth, USA

I think an overtime pay of £4.02 an hour is a joke - a school-leaver could get that sort of pay. Surely the pay should be 1.5 time or double time not less?!
Alan Robertson, Scotland

I really welcome the awards. It's the first time in my 20 year public service career that I've had an above inflation pay rise.
John Battye, UK

Primaries have been neglected because the pupils are "smaller" but the Head's role is bigger. If we want successful teenagers we must plant confident kids.
Dr David White, UK

Yet another slap in the face from the politicians. Remember the pay increase they voted themselves? This just further damages morale, and ignores all the extra hard work the profession is doing for patient care. The chronic drain of disillusioned doctors from the NHS will continue unabated.
Dr Andy Nicolaou, UK

On the whole the awards are fair, but I cannot see why teachers have received so little when it seems just as hard to recruit highly qualified members of the profession as it is for nurses.
Geoff Wickens, UK

My income as a family doctor in Canada puts me amongst the highest earners - it seems the latest pay rise awarded by the government has left GP's in the UK still on the downward slide as far as income goes, whilst their workload, patient expectations, and now the new NHS structure continues to put on the pressure and stress. Pay doctors a fair wage for their skills and dedication and perhaps people like me will return to the UK.
Dr Wendy Loveless, Canada

Nurses pay awards are only a stopgap. A systematic review of pay and responsibility is required to make sure that there are anywhere near enough nurses to take health into the 21st Century.
Richard Watson, UK

Teaching is a collaborative exercise - a child's achievement is the result of the work of many individuals. To single out specific groups or individuals does little for the morale of the whole profession.
Paul Bevis, UK

After teaching for 28 years - another kick in the teeth from the sitting government. Who actually raises standards? Heads or classroom teachers? Who has the good relationships with the pupils, who has to work hard to produce these good relationships, to achieve the rise in standards?
Graham Shaw, UK

This will not solve the long-term problems of the health service. If successive governments since the early 1970's had made gradual increases annually nurses might just be on a salary that is comparable to other professions and match the responsibilities of the job.
Trevor Dolan, UK

Dentistry is not funded in the same manner as the rest of the health service. There are no NHS funds to buy into a practice or modernise a surgery, or pay the dental nurse or reception staff, or pay for dental materials. All this has to come from patient fees which the government adds 20% to. This is simply not enough money to provide the modern high quality service that people deserve. Dentists either subsidise their patients treatments or move into the private sector, which would you do?
Mark Becker, UK

As a senior sister I feel very let down. I carry a great deal of responsibility which continues into my home life. As a grade D will probably earn more than me with their special duty enhancements can anyone explain to me why I endure all the stress and responsibility, with only minimal thanks. This pay award will not retain senior staff.
Jill Swales, UK

The possibility of head teachers getting such a jump in their salaries, and the apparent lack of concern to normal teachers, who have vast stresses upon them all the time, with their teaching commitments, seems manifestly unfair.
Ben Walklate, UK

The increase for the majority of nurses does not offer any incentive for extra training or increasing the skill base. If the Government are intent on maintaining the core of specialist nurses, e.g. ITU, Theatre, Paediatric and other specialist fields they must recognise the additional training and skills that are required and acquired and reflect these in the pay awards. To simply class these highly specialised areas as "Other Nurses" is an insult, and shows the lack of knowledge, or is it contempt, these politicians have. For the Prime Minister, earning over £100k per year, it is easy to say it is not about money, he should try to make budgets balance on little pay and a vocation.
Kent based RGN

I am a fifth year medical student, soon to qualify as a house officer - the most 'junior' of the junior doctors. What about their pay? I have friends from my year at school who achieved lower grades in A-levels, who will be earning more than me (in commerce) - and they are not £20,000 in debt!!
Louise Beckham, UK

I'm sorry but feel that nurses getting a higher pay rise compared to teachers is unjust. There wouldn't be nurses in the first place if there weren't teachers to teach them biology and health and social care, sorry but I feel that the TEACHERS deserve it more than the NURSES.
Geetarti Sharma, UK

Teachers get paid too much already compared to other public sector workers.
Steve Ackland, UK

The 3.5% pay rise will do nothing to stem the disillusionment and low moral within the teaching profession. Many of my colleagues feel very depressed and would leave the job tomorrow but for their families and mortgages. This is a very unhealthy situation to be fostering within our educational establishments.
Steve Soames, UK

The job specification of Primary Heads has changed out of all recognition in the last 10 years. This has never previously been acknowledged to any real extent and today's award is long overdue.
Jane Langfield, UK

How do you keep experienced nursing staff in the health service when you erode the pay differential between Junior and senior staff like this pay offer? The pay increase should have been high across the board to retain/encourage back experienced staff.
Barry Williams, UK