Generally, it is lower-paid staff who have missed out, and campaigners say a high proportion are female and from ethnic minorities.

Sky News has surveyed outsourcing companies which employ cleaners, porters and caterers within the NHS and found while some have paid their staff the £1,600 award, others haven’t.

Much depends on what kind of contract the worker is under as to whether the company was able to claim money off the Department of Health. Unions say this is symptomatic of how staff in hospitals are losing their rights.

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