Health unions have accused the government of letting down already “demoralised” nurses, after failing to meet the deadline to announce a 2024-25 NHS pay offer.
England’s major health unions have warned that health workers could face months of uncertainty about pay because of the delays, as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.
“The time it takes to recommend the yearly wage rise is actually damaging the NHS”
Helga Pile
The 2024-25 pay deal for staff Agenda for Change contracts should have come into force on 1 April, in line with the new financial year.
However, much like previous years, the offer is late.
It follows delays by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in triggering and submitting evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) process.
As such, the NHS PRB is yet to make a pay recommendation for this financial year.
In its written evidence to the advisory body, submitted last month, the DHSC did not put forward a recommended figure for this year’s pay rise but argued that the deal needed to be “fair but affordable”.
This week, unions have hit back at the DHSC for the delays, and some have also reiterated calls to abandon the NHS PRB altogether, favouring direct pay negotiations instead.
Today, Unison has written to the health secretary, Victoria Atkins, to say that government delays in kickstarting the PRB process were to blame for the lack of a 2024-25 pay offer.
In a letter, the union warned that nurses and other NHS staff now faced “months of uncertainty” because of the hold up.
It noted that the cost-of-living crisis was far from over and that the government’s silence on NHS pay meant that health staff were “in the dark” about how to budget.
It comes as this week households have seen huge rises in their household bills.
Unison’s letter said that a “desperately needed annual pay rise” was vital to help staff “pay their bills and stop the steady stream of their colleagues leaving for better-paid jobs elsewhere”.
Unison head of health, Helga Pile, said: “Health workers should know what wage rise they’re getting on the day it’s due.
“But instead of doing everything possible to hang on to demoralised NHS employees, government delays over pay are simply giving staff another reason to leave.
“Ministers say they want to get waiting lists down, but if the gaps in NHS staffing worsen, this will remain an impossible pipe dream.”
Helga Pile
Unison has once again called for the government to move away from the NHS PRB entirely.
The union has joined GMB and Unite in boycotting the PRB process, amid concerns that it is not fit for purpose.
Ms Pile added: “The time it takes to recommend the yearly wage rise is actually damaging the NHS – direct pay talks would be far quicker and simpler.
“The government is in danger of missing an open goal.”
Unison is not the only union in correspondence with the government this week, as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has also aired concerns about the delayed pay offer in a letter to prime minister Rishi Sunak.
The union’s general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, wrote to Mr Sunak yesterday (4 April) to rebuke his claims that the government had “resolved” last year’s pay dispute with all NHS staff apart from junior doctors.
Ms Cullen argued that the claims, which were made on The Sun’s ‘Never Mind the Ballots’ show, were “misleading and inaccurate”.
It comes as the RCN remains in a formal trade dispute over the 2023-24 pay deal, after its members rejected the offer last year.
In the letter, Ms Cullen also noted delays in putting forward a pay offer for this year.
She said: “The government is already late with its pay award for this year, having delayed initiating the pay review body process.
“We are participating formally and in good faith this year and our submission calls for an urgent substantial, above-inflation pay rise for 2024-25.”
Ms Cullen warned that nursing staff across England were “struggling”, noting that a recent RCN poll found that four in 10 reported being in a state of mental distress due to money worries.
Pat Cullen
She added: “This is the daily reality for nursing staff, a situation which can only be improved with a substantial and above-inflation pay rise delivered with urgency.
“I implore you to act now and safeguard the health of our nation.”
Other health unions have also raised the alarm about the delayed pay offer.
The Royal College of Midwives general secretary, Gill Walton, told Nursing Times that it was “completely unacceptable” that midwives were in limbo about their pay.
She said: “The pay rise for another year running is overdue and this will only serve to further erode the morale of midwives and maternity support workers.
“Improving pay is a crucial lever in retaining staff and right now given the staff retention issues facing the NHS, the government should be doing all it can to ensure it retains existing staff.”
Meanwhile, GMB national secretary, Rachel Harrison, told Nursing Times that the government had “let down” NHS workers by not ensuring their pay award was put forward on time.
She said: “By insisting on a lengthy pay review body process that they themselves delayed the start of, they’ve left NHS workers’ pay further decreasing in value.
“GMB has refused to engage with the pay review body process until significant reform has happened, including addressing independence and timing.
“We submitted a pay claim to the government and called for pay negotiations so that these unnecessary delays could have been avoided.”
Responding to the concerns, a DHSC spokesperson said: “We hugely value all our NHS staff and recognise the importance of giving certainty on 2024-25 pay settlements as early as possible which is why we have asked the independent pay review bodies to make their recommendations.
“These independent bodies are made up of industry experts.
“Their recommendations consider several factors like the cost of living and value for the taxpayer.
“We are also working with the NHS Electronic Staff Record to ensure that any pay uplift is implemented as quickly as possible.”
