Lowest-paid hospital workers are getting a wage boost in their pay packets in Romford and Ilford to cope with the rising cost of living.

All staff at Queen’s and King George hospitals who are on the London band 2 pay rates are getting increases with a London Living Wage pay deal, backdated to April 1.

Apprentice rates are also being uplifted by the Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust, which runs the hospitals.

“We want them to earn a salary that reflects the real-world cost-of-living,” the trust’s chief executive Matthew Trainer assured. “This is a really important thing as we value everyone who works with us, to ensure we can attract and retain the best people at in all roles.”

The London Living Wage, which is above the minimum set by the government, rose to £13.15 an hour on April 1, a voluntary rate considered necessary for London’s costly standard of living.

The last pay rise at the two hospitals was in 2022 at the height of the cost-of-living crisis, which was followed last year by the trust holding internal ‘buy and swap’ clothing sales for staff to get school uniforms for their families.