Hundreds of NHS workers take Trust to court over four years of unlawful pension denial, and inferior pay

NHS pension scandal:

• Hundreds of predominantly Black, brown and migrant NHS workers were denied access to the NHS pension scheme for four years, despite being NHS employees, receiving just 3% employer contributions compared with around 23% for colleagues.
• Some 250 workers, cleaners, caterers and porters, all UVW members, are pursuing claims for four years of lost pay and pension contributions, alleging indirect race discrimination. They are seeking back payment, as well as compensation for injury to feelings.
• In 2025, the hospitals acknowledged that denying workers access to the NHS pension scheme for four years was unlawful. Yet workers may now be asked to pay four years of employee contributions upfront themselves.
• A 2025 UVW investigation uncovered £6 million in withheld pensions and more than £32 million in missing pay and benefits.
• St Helier and Epsom workers were brought in-house as NHS employees in 2021 but had to organise with UVW and vote 98% for strike action before GESH agreed to give them full NHS terms and conditions.
• The claim follows a landmark Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruling that found an 18-month delay in giving UVW cleaners at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) full NHS pay and conditions was unlawful indirect race discrimination that disproportionately disadvantaged Black and brown workers.
• The workers are represented by Leigh Day for the back pay claim, while UVW is representing them for the pension claim. Hearings are scheduled for the 7th July 2027 and 14th June 2027 respectively.

Some 250 cleaners, porters and catering workers at St Helier and Epsom Hospitals are taking legal action against the hospital trust over four years of lost pay and pension contributions, alleging indirect race discrimination. The predominantly Black, brown and migrant workers, all UVW members, were employed directly by the NHS but denied the pay, pensions and conditions of colleagues on Agenda for Change (AfC) contracts. Most strikingly, they received employer pension contributions of just 3%, compared with around 23% for their NHS colleagues, leaving them facing significant losses to their future pension entitlements and retirement security. 

The workers were brought in-house by GESH in 2021 after previously working for contractor Mitie. But despite becoming NHS employees, they remained on inferior terms and were paid £13.85 an hour compared with £14.92 for NHS Band 2 colleagues. They were also denied access to the standard NHS pension and placed in NEST, where employer contributions were just 3%, compared with around 23% for NHS colleagues.

In 2025, a UVW investigation “NHS at 75: The Hidden Cost for Low-Paid, Migrant Workers at St Helier and Epsom Hospitals” exposed more than £32 million in inferior pay and benefits and £6 million in withheld pensions, a pattern it identified as “institutional racism” inside GESH. The UVW members’ survey revealed a two-tier system in which predominantly white staff enjoyed full NHS rights, while the majority Black, brown, and migrant workers were systematically excluded. It found that some of them had been paid almost £10,000 less per year.

In 2025, GESH acknowledged that denying the workers access to NHS pensions for four years had been unlawful and agreed to enrol them in the NHS scheme and make back payments. Yet, workers were also asked to pay four years of their own pension contributions upfront. UVW believes GESH failed to properly consider alternative ways of correcting their historic pension membership, including recovering employee contributions from future pension benefits or refunding or transferring their existing NEST contributions.

The case follows a landmark victory for 80 UVW cleaners at GOSH. The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld their claim that an 18-month delay in transferring them onto full NHS pay, terms and conditions was unreasonable, unlawful and indirectly race discriminatory. It found that the delay disproportionately disadvantaged Black and brown workers and confirmed they are entitled to back payment for the difference between the pay and benefits they received and what they should have received under their NHS contracts.

The St Helier and Epsom hospital workers’ progress has been won through collective organising. In 2025, hundreds joined UVW and launched a campaign for full NHS equality. After voting 98% in favour of strike action, they forced GESH to negotiate and secured a collective agreement bringing them onto NHS terms and conditions, including NHS pay, sick pay from day one, pensions, annual leave and enhanced pay for night and weekend work. They also secured a Memorandum of Understanding with GESH, akin to trade union recognition for UVW.

While the agreement secures better terms going forward, with changes being phased in over approximately three years, it does not resolve what workers lost during the four years they were denied equal treatment.

The workers are now seeking to recover the pay and pension contributions they lost during those four years, as well as compensation for injury to feelings.

The workers are represented by Leigh Day in their backpay claim and by UVW in their pension claim. Hearings are scheduled for 7th July 2027 for the backpay claim and 14 June 2027 for the pension claim.

Ioana Paduraru, cleaning and portering supervisor and UVW member at St Helier hospital, said:

It was not fair. It definitely didn’t feel like the NHS family they talk about. Nobody explained to us at the time that we should have been enrolled in the NHS pension scheme. I don’t think it’s fair to ask us to pay four years of contributions upfront. With the cost of living, that’s unaffordable. I’m the only one working in my household and I have four children and I’m finding this extremely hard and stressful. That would mean paying into two pensions: NEST and then backpay the NHS pension. I don’t think that’s fair. Also, because of the decision they made at the time, I won’t have a good pension. I believe I’ve lost over £10,000.

Nelly Ospino, UVW General Secretary, said:

This is a pension scandal. After years of doing essential work in our NHS, these workers deserve dignity, respect and equality—not to be punished in retirement for an unlawful decision that was not theirs. While their NHS colleagues received employer pension contributions of around 23%, these workers were put into NEST with just 3%. GESH has acknowledged that denying them access to the NHS pension was unlawful, yet workers are now being asked to find four years of contributions upfront themselves. That is completely unacceptable. These workers have already paid the price for years; they should not be expected to pay again for GESH’s unlawful decision. They deserve a secure and dignified retirement on equal terms with their NHS colleagues.