Estates workers at three NHS hospitals are striking today.

About 50 employees at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Margate's QEQM and Ashford's William Harvey are taking part in industrial action lasting until Friday over plans to transfer their jobs to a 'wholly owned subsidiary company'.

The staff, who are responsible for day-to-day building maintenance and will next week become employed by a new company called 2together Support Solutions, fear the move amounts to privatisation and could lead to their pay and benefits being affected.

Picket supervisor Russell Crawley, who has been a mechanical and electrical technician at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital for three years, said: "We're worried about our terms and conditions being eroded, which have been hard fought for in the NHS over a long time. Things like leave, pensions, and sick pay.

"This is happening all over the country now. Lots of trusts are doing it and we feel very strongly about it. It's also not just our department, but spread all over the hospital.

"Basically, the uncertainty is a big concern. We still don't know the new terms and conditions of the new company, so we're worried about what might happen to us.

"We're tradesmen, and we could be earning more working elsewhere, but we're proud to work for the NHS. We like that we're helping patients and we don't want that taken away."

Andy Richardson, who was on the picket line at the QEQM Hospital at Margate today, said striking workers had received "quite a lot of support" from passing drivers.

Among his key concerns are that staff transferring to 2gether Support Solutions who go on to be promoted will be subject to the new company's terms and conditions, which have yet to be made clear.

"They have said that if anybody goes on and gets a promotion, that would be under the new terms and conditions, but they haven't actually confirmed the physical existence of those terms," he continued.

Unite, the UK's largest union, says it is concerned that NHS trusts are forming subsidiary companies to avoid tax by registering for VAT exemption.

NHS Improvement, the body which oversees trusts, also issued advice last week saying any plans to create new subsidiaries should be 'paused' pending a new regulatory approach and guidance.

However, a spokesman for East Kent Hospitals said the trust had been advised this did not apply to them, as their plans already had board approval.

They continued: "The Trust Board has given 2gether Support Solutions a 25-year contract to provide services to the Trust which removes the need for the Trust to return to the market every seven to ten years, giving greater certainty to staff.

"Savings the company makes will be invested in frontline clinical services, the social enterprise and its staff.

"From the beginning of the process, the Trust has engaged with Unite and staff, in a transparent and accountable process and we have always maintained that it has been integral to the Trust’s plans that the Estates department would form part of 2gether."