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Patient care could suffer if the current 1% cap for NHS staff is not lifted, former Conservative health secretary Stephen Dorrell has told Sky News.
Mr Dorrell, who served in John Major's government and is now the chairman of the NHS Confederation, said the cap would be "unsustainable" if it applied for the full five-year course of this Parliament, and that employers shared the concern of NHS and public sector unions.
The Royal College of Nurses will today stage protests across the country calling for an end to the pay restraint that has seen public sector pay frozen or capped at one per cent for the last seven years.
The RCN says that equates to a 14% pay cut in real terms, and is fuelling a recruitment crisis in the NHS.
Mr Dorrell said the cap was limiting employers' ability to recruit and retain staff.
Stephen Dorrell said the NHS needed to attract top-quality staff
"I absolutely think that the 1% pay cap if applied throughout this parliament is not sustainable, and it's not compatible with delivering high quality health care," he said.
"The Royal College of Nursing will make that point on behalf of nurses, and other trade unions will do the same on behalf of their members, but it is important to recognise it is not just a trade union point-of-view.
"It is the view of employers within the system so they can compete for and retain the commitment of high quality staff, and deliver high-quality healthcare."
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was urged to help raise workers' wages
In March the Government approved a 1% pay rise for 5.1m public sector workers, but since the election there have been indications its commitment to pay restraint may be shifting.
Earlier this month Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the NHS Confederation annual conference that he had sympathy with the nurses' case and would raise the issue with Chancellor Philip Hammond.
Mr Hammond has also said that the Government "is not deaf" to calls for an end to pay restraint and Michael Gove said on his return to the Cabinet that austerity may have to be "eased".
Paul Johnson, director of the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the new political climate allied to the effects of seven years of pay restraint means the cap may have to be abandoned.
He said: "It is a tough balancing act with the public finances.
"You can't afford to not pay what you need to get enough people to be the nurses, teachers and doctors, but you can't pay so much it makes a hole in the public finances.
"Up to now that balance hasn't been too bad, but going forward it is going to be hard to keep public sector pay down because the level of it relative to what is happening in the private sector is set to fall quite fast."
The RCN protest comes as NHS Trusts warn there has been a lack of action to address areas of concern, including social care.
A report by NHS Providers, which represents trusts in England, has found that £1bn extra funding for social care is not being used for that purpose.
A survey of trusts found that only one in four had a commitment from their local authority that the money would be used to reduce "bed-blocking" and less than half thought the money would help them reduce winter pressures.
(SKY NEWS)
