The UK Government has made a new pay offer to NHS workers in England, in a deal that unions say could end strike action over the border. The new pay deal will go out to a vote of NHS union members.
The offer consists of a one off bonus this year of 2.5% for the best paid and 8.2% for the worst paid and comes on top of the 4% increase already implemented for 2022/23, the Mirror reports. Tense negotiations late into the night also resulted in an offer of a 5.2% rise for 2023/24 - an increase on the Government’s initial offer of 3.5%.
What this means for NHS workers in Wales has not yet been confirmed. The Welsh Government has consistently said there is no more money to offer NHS workers. However, it has repeatedly told unions that if the UK Government make a new pay offer to NHS England workers which comes from new money, and not from the current budget, then talks about increasing the Welsh Government pay offer would resume.
Read more: Teacher strikes in Wales called off as new pay offer made
This means that if the new pay increase offered to NHS England workers comes from new money, then the Welsh Government would get a proportion via the Barnet Formula - a mechanism used by the Treasury to automatically adjust the amounts of public expenditure to the devolved nations to reflect changes in spending levels allocated to public services.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Should conversations in England result in an offer for NHS staff in England which will mean consequential coming to Wales, these will of course be passed on to NHS staff in Wales.”
It has not yet been confirmed where the new money for this NHS England pay offer is coming from. In Wales, NHS workers have received a pay offer for 22/23 that comprises of an additional 3%, 1.5% consolidated and 1.5% non-consolidated on top of the increase paid earlier in the year. In total, this equates to an additional 7.6% on the NHS pay bill for 22/23.
Despite the Wales Partnership forum, which is made up of NHS trade unions in Wales, collectively accepting the offer, a number of unions in Wales are still in dispute about pay and conditions. WalesOnline understands that talks with several unions in Wales have been ongoing this week and are close to concluding.
Rachel Harrison, national secretary of the GMB union, said: “Thanks to the strength and hard work of GMB’s NHS members, the Government has gone from refusing to talk about pay this year to putting an extra £2.5 billion on the table. GMB members should rightly be proud of themselves. It’s been a tough road but they have faced down the Department of Health and won an offer that we feel is the best that can be achieved at this stage through negotiation.
“If the offer is accepted then it would meet a key GMB demand of a huge pay uplift for the lowest paid to keep them well above the Real Living Wage. Progress has also been made on non-pay demands, such as addressing violence in the workplace. This offer is far from perfect, and of course our NHS workers deserve more."
GMB's national committee is recommending that the offer be accepted – but the final decision belongs to our members. "Strike action will be paused until the outcome of the ballot.”
The deal will now be scrutinised by NHS workers in England and compared to a deal agreed on Thursday with union members in Scotland. One bone of contention in England will be that the additional 2.5% to 8.2% pay offered for 2022/23 comes in the form of a one-off payment and not a “consolidated” pay rise, to be built on in the following years’ deal.
The following consolidated 5% rise for 2023/24 is also likely to be below inflation - so another real terms pay cut. However the deal for England will see some of the lowest paid workers effectively get an extra 17.3% over two years, while better paid staff will get 8.7% extra.
Much of this is in the form of a one-off payment but it will dwarf pay being offered by the Tories to the rest of the public sector. Confirming the deal, a statement from Government said “The Government and the NHS Staff Council – which brings together NHS employers and unions representing the Agenda for Change workforce – have completed negotiations and reached a final offer.
“This includes additional pay for 2022/23 and a pay settlement for 2023/24. Both sides believe it represents a fair and reasonable settlement that acknowledges the dedication of NHS staff, while acknowledging the wider economic pressures currently facing the UK. Those unions with mandates for industrial action RCN, UNISON, GMB, CSP, Unite and BDA will now consult their members in consultations that will be held over the coming weeks. Strike action will continue to be paused while these ballots are ongoing.”
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