NHS finally agrees pay deal
More than a million health workers in England will start receiving extra pay from June after the NHS Staff Council held a crucial meeting this afternoon in which members voted to accept the government’s revised pay offer.
The NHS Staff Council speaks on behalf of employers and 14 health unions, representing all NHS staff aside from doctors and dentists who are on different contracts. The latest pay offer means a 5% rise for 2023/24 and a one-off payment worth at least £1,655 for 2022/23 will now be implemented for employers ranging from nurses and paramedics to porters and cleaners.
Tuesday’s meeting came as union members remain divided over the government’s revised pay offer – an offer which came after months of negotiations.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing and Unite both voted down the deal despite Health Secretary Steve Barclay describing it as his “best and final offer”. However members of Unison, the GMB as well as unions representing physios and midwives, all voted in favour of the pay deal and votes on the council are weighted according to unions’ membership numbers. This meant Barclay’s offer secured majority backing.
Even NHS staff from unions who rejected the deal are still set to receive this extra pay.
Will this stop them from taking further industrial action? Not necessarily. In fact, Unite is due to carry out a series of local strikes this week while the RCN is planning on holding another strike ballot of its members to decide on whether or not to press on with further action.
But Barclay and other ministers are optimistic that, once RCN and Unite members start to receive the extra pay and realise they are outnumbered by the other health unions, the momentum for further strikes might fade.
Progress in resolving the long-running NHS pay dispute comes as welcome news – and offers ministers some short-term relief. However, when it comes to addressing the NHS retention crisis, there is still crucial work to be done.
This afternoon, Sara Gorton, chair of the union group on the NHS staff Council, welcomed the result of the vote but cautioned that the NHS remains “desperately short of staff.”
“This pay deal must be the start of something new in the NHS,” she urged.
While pay has dominated the debate in recent weeks, it’s worth remembering that staff have also been striking over working conditions. And pay alone is unlikely to reverse the growing exodus of Britain’s health workers.
As the FT’s John Burn-Murdoch points out, NHS data on the vast increase in voluntary resignations over the past two years – including among young staff – has primarily been driven by individuals citing problems with workplace culture, burnout and stress as opposed to financial reasons.
Indeed, Barclay promised this afternoon to “continue to engage constructively with unions on workforce changes”. He would be wise to stick to such a pledge if the government wants to see improved conditions in the NHS and shorter waiting lists.
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