STAFF working for the trust which used to run mental health services in York will be given pay rises and a Christmas bonus.

A letter to all staff working for the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT) has outlined the plans for the trust "post York", after losing the contract to run mental health services for the city in October.

This coincided with the closure of Bootham Park Hospital due to ongoing concerns about the safety of the service. About 800 staff working in the York area were transferred to work for the new provider, the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

The letter states the 2700 remaining permanent staff working for LYPFT will be given end of year bonuses of £100 each.

Staff on higher pay bands, earning from £40,000 to almost £100,000 will also have their incremental pay progression re-instated and staff will be given a one per cent cost of living pay uplift.

Chris Butler, chief executive of LYPFT, said: "I wanted to end this briefing by sharing some positive news regarding staff pay recently approved by the Trust's Executive Team.

"Firstly, we have agreed to pay a £100 end of year bonus...in recognition of your hard work and dedication throughout this year and to acknowledge that you have continued to deliver high quality services despite a large number of vacancies. This will be paid to all eligible staff in the December pay run.

"We wanted to recognise the enormous contribution made by all staff across the trust in improving the health of and lives of people who use our services and we felt the fairest way to do this was for all staff to receive the same amount of uplift and to be able to receive pay progression where this is appropriate."

In January the LYPFT was told it must improve by the Care Quality Commission, with inspectors finding that services in Leeds were superior to York.

Mr Butler, who is due to stand down from his role as he said he could not commit to working for the trust for years to come, said the trust could now work towards becoming outstanding.

He said: "The CQC's findings clearly told a tale of two cities back in January this year and taking Vale of York out of the equation we would probably have been rated good overall."