The Government has been urged to give NHS and social care workers a higher pay rise – with the one per cent promised in the 2021 Budget described as a "kick in the teeth".

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has pledged to raise the wages of doctors and nurses by one per cent as a thank you for their work on the front line of the Covid-19 fight.

But unions and the Labour Party have criticised the Government over what they said was a kick in the teeth for the lifesavers.

Councillor Stephen Barnes, chairman of the West Cumbria Liberal Democrats said: “I am extremely disappointed that the Government can only find one per cent. However the overwhelming scandal is this Government’s total failure to address the extreme crisis in social care which it has created through years of neglect and underfunding.”

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey has made social care a top priority in recent months. He led the party in an appeal to see unpaid carers vaccinated against Covid-19 as a priority.

Guidance on vaccination of unpaid carers was updated in February, adding them to step six of the roll-out.

Chancellor Sunak’s 2021 Budget also included a new UK-wide Recovery Loan Scheme, making loans available between £25,001 and £10m to help the country’s businesses get back on their feet.

In his speech to the House of Commons, announcing the Budget, Mr Sunak said: “The NHS, deserving of immense praise, has had extraordinary success in vaccinating more than 20 million people across the United Kingdom.

“And combined with our economic response, one of the most comprehensive and generous in the world, this means the Office for Budget Responsibility are now forecasting, in their words – 'a swifter and more sustained recovery' than they expected in November.”