NHS staff to get pay rise after seven-year cap

HEALTH Secretary Vaughan Gething has vowed to give Welsh NHS staff a pay rise in line with their counterparts in England, bringing an end to a seven-year cap on wages.

Yesterday UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that NHS England employees – including nurses and frontline paramedics – would get a rise of at least 6.5% over three years.

The deal, which was formally agreed by 14 unions and ministers in Westminster, will be tiered with the lowest-paid in each job receiving the biggest rise.

Half of NHS workers are at the top of their pay band and will receive a 6.5% increase, while the other half will get between 9% and 29%.

Midwives and physiotherapists are among those in line for the biggest increase.

And hospital caterers, cleaners, porters and other staff on the lowest pay grade would get an immediate pay rise of more than £2,000 this year – an increase of between 11% and 13%.

Similarly, a nurse with one year’s experience would see their basic pay rise by 21% over three years, giving them a salary of up to £27,400.

Under the current Treasury rules, it means the Welsh Government could get an estimated additional £210m to spend as determined by the Barnett Formula.

Speaking in the Senedd yesterday, Health Secretary Vaughan Gething confirmed the additional money from Westminster would go on NHS pay.

Mr Gething said: “I am pleased the UK Government has listened to my repeated calls to lift the public sector pay cap and provide additional funding to reward NHS staff across the UK.

“But there are some significant challenges, which we should not forget, that face partners in the NHS and other public services who still face a realistic pay cap as a result of years of austerity.

“We should remind ourselves that for Agenda for Change staff it’s been a realterms pay cut of 14% since 2010.

“So the move that England has announced will go some way towards resolving that and I’m happy to confirm that any consequential for NHS pay will go into NHS pay here in Wales.

“The NHS Wales Partnership Forum is meeting tomorrow [Thursday] to offer advice on how any consequential could be used in Wales.”

Thousands of nurses descended on Parliament Square in September to call on the UK Government to scrap a 1% pay cap for all public sector workers.

Shadow Health Secretary Angela Burns said the pay rise was the “right thing to do”.

She said: “The Welsh Conservatives have been vocal in calling for the public sector pay cap to be lifted and the decision to focus the biggest pay rises on the lowest paid staff is the right thing to do.

“For the sake of employee retention and the delivery of world class public services it is vital that staff are fairly remunerated.”

Unison Cymru Wales regional secretary Margaret Thomas said a decent pay rise was long overdue for healthcare workers.

She added: “Their earnings have been unfairly squeezed by seven years of pay caps and freezes. They and their families desperately need a real boost to their wages.”

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said the UK Government will invest £4.2bn over three years to fund the pay hike.

He said: “To support long-term attraction and recruitment starting salaries for all our non-medical staff groups will also see increases, which will help to make these roles more attractive for people considering a career in the largest employer in Europe.”

The pay rise would apply to all NHS staff with the exception of doctors, dentists and senior leaders.