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Agenda for Change unions are recommending that members accept the latest pay offer from the government, which is a 5% pay increase for the coming year.
The unions, which include the Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Midwives, UNISON and GMB, represent staff including nurses, paramedics, 999 call handlers, midwives, security guards and cleaners.
They will recommend the offer to their members in consultations that will be held over the coming weeks. Strike action will continue to be paused while they are consulted.
Health leaders are now urging junior doctors and the government to use this deal as a way of entering talks to try to come to a settlement too.
What is the latest NHS pay offer?
Under the deal, Agenda for Change staff will receive a non-consolidated award of 2% of an individuals’ salary for 2022/23. This is on top of the pay increase of at least 4% they received for 2022/23 last year, as recommended by the independent Pay Review Body process, worth at least £1,400. This means a newly qualified nurse received a 5.5% increase and those on the lowest salaries received a pay rise of 9.3%.
- Further reading: How will the junior doctor strikes affect the NHS?
In addition, they will receive a one-off ‘NHS Backlog Bonus’ which recognises the sustained pressure facing the NHS following the pandemic and the extraordinary effort staff have been making to hit backlog recovery targets and meet the Prime Minister’s promise to cut waiting lists.
The backlog bonus will be worth at least £1,250 per person but will be determined based on how much experience staff have and based on an individual’s pay band. The average nurse in pay band 5, for example, will receive £1,350.
For 2023/24, the government is offering Agenda for Change staff a 5% consolidated increase in pay, worth at least £1,065.
As a result of this package, a newly qualified nurse will see their salary go up by more than £2,750 over two years from 2021/22 to 2023/24. On top of this they will also receive over £1,890 in one-off payments this year.
The deal will also provide a higher pay uplift for the lowest paid NHS staff, with all those in bands 1 and 2 having their pay raised to the same level.
Shame it took so long to get here
Unison said it was a shame it took so long to get to this point after health workers had to take many days of strike action, and thousands more had to threaten to join them, to get their unions into the room and proper talks underway.
UNISON head of health Sara Gorton said: “If accepted, the offer would boost pay significantly this year and mean a wage increase next year that’s more than the government had budgeted for. This is better than having to wait many more months for the NHS pay review body to make its recommendation.
“UNISON will now be putting this offer to the hundreds of thousands of health members in the union in the next few weeks, recommending acceptance.
“In the coming days, health workers will have the chance to look at the full detail of what’s on offer and decide whether that’s enough to end the dispute. While that process takes place any planned industrial action will be paused.”
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) will also be recommending that their members accept the offer on the table.
Dr Suzanne Tyler, Executive Director, Trade Union at the RCM, said: “This is a good deal won by the power of collective action by unions. It shows how this can bring about a better outcome not just for staff, but for the people they care for. Decently paid and well-resourced staff and services deliver better care, which is ultimately what we are all here for. The decision to accept or reject this offer will now sit rightly with our members.”
Government commits to a number of additional reforms
On top of the pay package for Agenda for Change unions, the government is also committing to a number of reforms such as working with the NHS Social Partnership Forum to identify ways to tackle and reduce violence against NHS staff.
It will also make the suspension of pension abatement rules introduced during the pandemic permanent and introduce measures to ensure safer staffing levels in hospitals.
In addition, the Health and Social Care Secretary has written to the RCN to outline that in undertaking work to address the specific challenges faced by nursing staff – in terms of recruitment, retention and professional development – this will involve how to take account of the changing responsibilities of nursing staff, and the design and implementation issues, including scope and legal aspects, of a separate pay spine for nursing staff exclusively.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “I hugely admire the incredible work of NHS staff, including during the pandemic and the progress they have made to tackle the resulting backlog. This offer will give nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists and other non-medical staff a fair pay rise while protecting our commitment to halve inflation.
“We have engaged in constructive and meaningful discussions with unions and NHS Employers and I look forward to continuing our work together to make the NHS a better place to work.”