Government confirms new pay offer for NHS staff in England

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The government has confirmed it is making a significant new pay offer to NHS staff in England, including a one-off bonus which unions say amounts to ?2.5bn.

The health secretary, Steve Barclay, and his officials have been in intensive talks with health unions to try to end months of disruptive strike action.

The government and the NHS staff council, which includes the unions, released a joint statement on Thursday, which said: “Both sides believe [the offer] represents a fair and reasonable settlement that acknowledges the dedication of NHS staff, while acknowledging the wider economic pressures currently facing the UK.”

The statement confirmed the offer included additional pay for 2022-23 and a pay settlement for 2023-24.

Unions say this includes a one-off payment for the current year, worth from ?1,655 for lower-paid staff, such as porters and cleaners, to ?3,789 for better-paid staff.

There will then be a 5% pay increase for the coming year – which is likely to be above inflation if forecasts are correct. Staff at the bottom of the pay scale are expected to receive a bigger rise, taking the lowest rate in the NHS to ?11.45 an hour.

Unions including Unison, the GMB and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said they would recommend the new offer to their members, who would then vote on whether to accept it.

Industrial action was suspended last month in order to enter the talks, and no further strikes would be held while the consultation with members took place.

Rachel Harrison, the national secretary of the GMB, said: “Thanks to the strength and hard work of GMB’s NHS members, the government has gone from refusing to talk about pay, to putting an extra ?2.5bn on the table for this year.

“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.”

Unison’s head of health, Sara Gorton, said: “It’s a shame it took so long to get here. Health workers had to take many days of strike action, and thousands more had to threaten to join them, to get their union into the room and proper talks under way.”

She said the offer would “boost pay significantly this year and mean a wage increase next year that’s more than the government had budgeted for”.

The RCN, which infuriated some of the other health unions by unilaterally entering talks with Barclay last month, said it had also secured a new pay structure for nurses, to come into force from 2024-25.

The RCN general secretary, Pat Cullen, said her members’ historic decision to take strike action had been vindicated.

“After tough negotiations, there are a series of commitments here that our members can see will make a positive impact on the nursing profession, the NHS and the people who rely on it,” she said.

However, Unite, which represents fewer NHS workers than most of the other unions involved in the dispute, said it would not be recommending the offer. The general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “It is clear that this government does not hold the interest of workers or the NHS at heart.”