The government's surprise move to stall a 1percent wage hike for all NHS staff in England has been widely criticised by the unions; especially with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt claiming that the already-strained £100 billion annual budget of the NHS cannot afford such pay increases.

In an attempt to derail the promised pay hike to NHS staff, Hunt has asked the urged two independent pay review bodies to either dump the 1 percent rise - which was supposed to take effect from April 2014 - or a pay progression system linked to the employees' length of service.

The independent pay review bodies had earlier set earnings for 1.3 million NHS workers; with Chancellor George Osborne having stated that the pay rise will cost the NHS an `affordable' amount of £500 million.

Seeking the halt of the 1 percent pay hike for NHS employees, Hunt has also challenged the long-established convention of small wage increases every year, over and above pay rises, so long as the performance of the employees is satisfactory and they move up the grades within their band.

However, with Unite and Labour unions criticising the plans outlined in the Health Department's submission to the two independent pay review bodies, Unite's Rachael Maskell said: "It is about choices and the NHS staff have already had two years of a pay freeze - 1% last year - and, quite frankly, are really falling behind inflation now with their wages."