New deal could see NHS staff pay increase by up to 30 per cent in three years
Some NHS staff could see their pay increase by almost a third in the next three years under a new deal with trade unions announced by the Government yesterday. New starters and those moving into new roles in the NHS will see the most significant pay increase under the deal – which affects more than a million nurses, paramedics, porters and other staff. The maximum increase any role could see would be 29 per
cent, meaning a nurse ward manager today, for example, with all the skills to pass each annual pay review could be earning £9,000 by 2021.
The agreement will seek to make savings by making pay increases less automatic, and will also seek to bring sickness absences in line with the wider public sector, the Government said. Leaked details of the agreement yesterday reported staff would get at least a 6.5 per cent uplift over three years, but this will only apply to staff who have been in their job the longest and have reached the top of the incremental pay increases for that role. These experienced staff account for 50 per cent of the workforce on an NHS Agenda for Change contract, for which the new deal was agreed between the 14 health unions and the Government today.
Sara Gorton, Unison’s head of health, chaired negotiations for the NHS trade unions and said pay was the root cause of the “staffing crisis of daunting magnitude” facing the NHS. “Our pay system has sat stuck for the last seven years and the set of proposals today aims to put it back on track over the next three years,” she said. “The NHS is one team, its porters, cleaners, physios, nurses, midwives, ambulance staff, occupational therapists: the people you see, and the people you never see. These proposals share the resources available across the whole structure, rather than targeting particular points or job groups.”
A newly qualified nurse or midwife who starts at the bottom of Band Five of the pay scale today would earn £22,128, and with three years experience that could increase to £26,970 if they met all their performance targets – a 22 per cent increase. The 100,000 lowest paid NHS staff, including healthcare assistants, drivers and nursery assistants, will see their pay increase immediately in 2018-19 – from £15,404 to £17,460 – with the lowest salary in the NHS by 2021 to be £18,005.
Announcing the deal in the Commons today, Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “Today’s agreement on a new pay deal reflects public appreciation for just how much staff have done and continue to do. We know that NHS sickness rates are around a third higher than the public sector average, and reducing sickness absence by just 1 per cent will save around £280m.” It will replace “often automatic” pay progression with “larger less frequent pay rises based on the achievement of agreed professional milestones”, he added
The changes will also reduce the number of incremental pay increases between the highest and lowest paid staff in the same role. The Treasury has made £4.2bn of additional funding available to fund the rise and had said pay uplift would be contingent on “productivity increases”. However, a leaked report earlier this month, suggesting that staff would be asked to forfeit a day of annual leave for the rise, is not included.
The next step is for the unions to put it to their members to vote, expected in June, with backdated pay theoretically reaching staff by July. However, one union, GMB, is already urging its staff to reject the “jam tomorrow” offer, which it says amounts to a real-terms pay cut for staff who have been in their roles the longest.
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that inflation is set to hit 9.6 per cent in the three-year period of the deal and pay has not kept up with inflation for eight years. Kevin Brandstatter, GMB national officer, said: “After all that suffering, is a below inflation pay rise the best they can offer? If it is, GMB will have to recommend that our members in NHS and Ambulance Trusts reject it.”
How nurse pay will change
Basic starting pay and annual performance-linked increases go up for more than one million staff on NHS Agenda for Change contracts under the three-year deal
How will pay change for a newly qualified nurse pay change?
A nurse just after qualification who started in pay Band Five in April 2017 started on £22,128 and in the
next three years could reach £26,970 – a 29 per cent rise.
A nurse who starts the same position in April 2018 starts on £23,023 and within three years could reach £26,970 – a 17.1 per cent rise.
The starting nurse salary in three years’ time will be £24,907.
For more experienced nurses?
A Band Five nurse with four years’ experience in April 2017 would be on £24,547 and within three years this could reach £30,615 – a 24.7 per cent rise.
A nurse at the top of Band Five in April 2017 would be on £28,746 and within three years could be on £30,615 – a 6.5 per cent pay rise.