NHS staff will receive a pay rise of up to 29% over three years, health unions have announced today (21 March).
NHS staff across England will see their pay increase between 6.5 and 29% over the next three years, with staff on the lowest pay grade to receive an immediate pay rise of over £2,000 for 2018/19.
Staff at the top of their pay bands will receive increases of 6.5% over the period April 2018 to April 2021. Those staff not at the top of their pay band will receive anywhere between 9 and 29%, depending on current pay and length of service.
NHS staff will receive a pay rise of up to 29% over three years, health unions have announced today (21 March).
NHS staff across England will see their pay increase between 6.5 and 29% over the next three years, with staff on the lowest pay grade to receive an immediate pay rise of over £2,000 for 2018/19.
Staff at the top of their pay bands will receive increases of 6.5% over the period April 2018 to April 2021. Those staff not at the top of their pay band will receive anywhere between 9 and 29%, depending on current pay and length of service.
Starting salaries in the NHS will also increase, with the lowest full-time rate of pay moving to £17,460.
UNISON said if the new pay deal is accepted by the unions, the extra money will be received in July’s wage packets, backdated from April.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it fought hard to make sure its members did not have to give up a day’s holiday as part of the deal and it is encouraging its members to approve the deal in a consultation running from 23 April to 5 June.
The pay deal will be fully funded by the Government, with some of the additional £4.2bn set aside for the NHS in last year’s Budget going towards staff pay.
‘The best pay deal in eight years’
The RCN has stated that they will be encouraging their members to vote in favour of the deal, with UNISON stating that the proposal ‘offers a better alternative for members than waiting around for the Pay Review Body to make recommendations each year’.
Chair of the RCN Trade Union CommitteeLors Allford claimed that it is ‘the best pay deal in eight years from a Government that is still committed to austerity.’
He added: ‘Failure to accept it will put us back at square one, and at risk of returning to the 1% pay rises we’ve fought so hard to overturn.’
UNISON head of health and lead pay negotiator for the NHS unions Sara Gorton said that although the deal will not solve every problem in the NHS, it will help make staff feel more valued.
‘Unfair’ pay cap
She added: ‘The agreement means an end at last to the Government’s self-defeating and unfair one per cent pay cap.
‘Seven years of pay freezes and wage increases well below the cost of living have meant significant financial hardship for health staff and their families. It’s also created headaches for employers as they struggled to attract new recruits and hold onto experienced staff.’
A formal 1% pay capon public sector was imposed by former chancellor George Osborne in 2015 until 2019, although the Government stated late last year that it would be scrapping the pay cap.
Current chancellor Philip Hammond committed to a new pay deal in his Budget in November, but made clear the deal was dependent on ‘pay structure modernisation’.
