NHS Wales staff get pay offer
NURSES, midwives, porters and many other NHS Wales employees are set to be given a pay rise in line with their counterparts in England.
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething made the announcement to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the NHS, which was founded by Tredegar-born Aneurin Bevan in 1948.
The new pay offer means staff would receive at least a 6.5% pay increase over the course of three years, with the majority receiving more than this.
The lowest salary for an NHS staff member would now stand at £17,460 and would be backdated to April 1, 2018, going beyond recommendations made by the Living Wage Foundation. This would then increase to £18,005 by 2020-21.
Health professionals such as nurses, physiotherapists, emergency call-handlers, paramedics, midwives and radiographers will all be given a pay rise.
So will non-clinical staff members such as cleaners, porters and security guards.
But the agreement does not cover doctors and dentists, as well as those in executive and senior posts, as they have separate negotiating bodies.
Those at the very bottom of their pay bands – bands 1 and 2 – who currently have a salary of £16,523 would get a salary increase of 8.9% over three years. That equates to a rise of £937 in 2018-19, £1,129 in 2019-20 and £1,482 in 2020-21
Those in the middle bands – such as band 6 and 7 – will receive an even higher percentage increase in their wages than those in the lowest bands. Employees in band 6 currently earning £26,566 will receive an 18.10% increase over three years. That equates to a rise of £1,484 in 2018-19, £3,835 in 2019-20 and £4,799 in 2020-21
Those in the top band – band 9 – will see their pay rise from £80,210 to £91,004 over three years, an increase of 13.5%
So it appears those on the lowest pay will actually be getting the smallest percentage increase in their salaries over the course of three years.
In March, UK government Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that NHS England employees would get a rise of at least 6.5% over three years.
And now the Welsh Government is offering almost exactly the same pay deal following the consequential funding from the UK government.
Just as with the recent pay deal in England, staff will be able to progress through the pay bands and reach the top of each band more quicklt, as the number of increments in each pay band will be reduced.
The offer has been negotiated with employers and unions and now needs to be approved through a ballot of union members.
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said: “As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the NHS in Wales, it is appropriate we recognise those who have made the service what it is today and continue to deliver the best possible care for all in their time of need.
“Our NHS in Wales simply could not function without the skill, dedication and hard work of its staff.”
They claim their deal matches the offer made in England and “goes beyond it in some areas which are important to our NHS in Wales”. These include: A continuing commitment to look at the annual Living Wage Foundation recommendations so that NHS pay scales remain fair in the future
Better payments during sickness absence than in England (although the details of this have not yet been released to the media)
Trade unions and employers will also work together to support individuals if they face a diagnosis of a terminal illness including support for the TUC “Dying to Work” campaign.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Wales said the pay deal is the “largest pay rise offered to nurses in 10 years”.