The Government's plans to limit wage rises across the NHS to 2.8% next year will go down badly with staff already facing a difficult winter, UNISON warns.
UNISON, the largest union representing NHS workers, also says the decision to delay talks on the promised modernisation of NHS pay scales until the second half of next year is not helpful. Similarly, insisting the cost of pay reform must be deducted from the pot available for the 2025/26 annual wage rise will hit workforce morale.
Commenting on the publication of the Government's evidence to the NHS pay review body, UNISON head of health Helga Pile says: "The Government has inherited a financial mess from its predecessors, but this is not what NHS workers wanted to hear.
"Staff are crucial in turning around the fortunes of the NHS. Improving performance is a key government pledge, but the pay rise proposed is barely above the cost of living.
"Letting the discredited pay review body decide how much cash is needed for updating Agenda for Change pay scales isn’t a smart move. Nor is insisting the costs of next year's wage rise and modernising the pay bands come from the same pot. NHS staff will end up with less, especially as money will have to be spent to keep the lowest paid above the legal minimum.”
Broken promise
UNISON says that promises to review and fix the pay structure helped to compensate for a pay award that was significantly lower than that for medical staff. “This failure to deliver is a broken commitment to the staff the Government is relying upon to get us through a quad-demic,” Helga adds.
"Talks to make the 20-year-old salary structure fit for a modern NHS are meant to be happening now. NHS employers and unions could have found a solution by sitting down together.
"Problems with the pay scales have led to lots of local strikes. The decision to push tackling the outdated pay structure back into next year means there could well be more.
"Everyone wants to improve patient care, make the health service more efficient, bring down waiting times and end delays. But without the staff, the NHS won’t get the huge helping hand it needs."
Last month, UNISON along with the Royal College of Nursing and Unite wrote to the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, urging him to bypass the NHS review body process and instead hold direct talks with unions about modernising the Agenda for Change salary scales and next year’s wage increase.
