Members of the GMB have voted to accept the Government's pay offer to health workers - but other unions have rejected the deal.
Tens of thousands of union members were balloted on the offer, which included a 5% pay rise this year and a cash payment for last year. A total of 56% of GMB members voted to accept the deal, with 44% rejecting it and an overall turnout of 51%.
The GMB said that it will now vote to accept the offer at a meeting of the NHS Staff Council next week, paving the way for the pay rise to be implemented by the Government to all health workers covered by the agreement. The news has been welcomed by ministers, following strike action amid months of deadlock over healthcare workers' pay.
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Members of other unions, including Unison, have also accepted the offer. However, the Unite union announced earlier that its members in the NHS had voted to reject the offer by 52%, while members of the Royal College of Nursing also rejected it and are set to strike this weekend.
They will strike from Sunday evening until Monday evening - a shorter period than planned after the Government successfully challenged the legality of the final day of a previously announced 48-hour strike in court. Meanwhile, Unison said that its ballot result showed high figures of rejection among those in frontline health services, with seven out of 10 ambulance paramedics rejecting the deal.
GMB national officer Rachel Harrison said: "This new pay offer would not have happened without the strike action taken by ambulance and other GMB health workers. GMB members have voted to accept the offer, which means GMB union will vote in favour of the pay offer at the NHS joint staff council meeting next week.
"Our members recognise that progress has been made – from the Government originally offering nothing, health workers will be thousands of pounds better off. It also meets a key GMB demand of a huge pay uplift for the lowest paid, lifting them above the Real Living Wage.
"But so much more needs to be done for workers if we are all to get the NHS we need. GMB now needs action for our ambulance members – starting by addressing their retirement and unsocial hours enhancement concerns.
"Today is just one step in the battle to restore NHS workers' decade of lost earnings. GMB will continue this fight, so that the NHS and ambulance workers, who serve and care for the public, finally get the fair deal they deserve."
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "Today’s decision by members of GMB to accept the pay offer, following Unison – who represent the largest share of the NHS workforce – the Royal College of Midwives and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, demonstrates it is a fair and reasonable proposal that can bring this dispute to an end.
"I've always said I want a fair resolution that recognises the outstanding job of NHS staff and also protects the Government's commitment to halve inflation – and I'm hopeful the NHS Staff Council accepts our offer when they meet next week," he added.
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