News alert / Covid payments dispute

The government could face a judicial review after excluding some health workers from a one-off bonus, according to a BBC report. The sum, part of a pay deal for more than a million NHS staff in England this year, was partly to recognise their work since the pandemic. But thousands of outsourced staff, such as community nurses and physiotherapists, will not receive it. The workers were told they did not qualify for the payments of between £1,655 and £3,789 as they were not directly employed by the NHS but by organisations such as social enterprises providing community health services for the NHS. About 20,000 health staff are thought to work in those services in England, the Department of Health and Social Care said. The government said it was considering the issue.