More than 1.4 million NHS workers will receive a 3.3% pay rise from April, the UK Government has announced. Health Secretary Wes Streeting described the increase as a "real terms pay rise" because it exceeds forecast inflation of 2.2%, but healthcare unions condemned the award as insufficient and a real-terms pay cut.
Streeting defended the decision, accepting the NHS Pay Review Body's recommendation in full. «We have listened to the workforce and understand the difficulties they face when pay awards are not delivered on time,» he said. The government sped up the review process by submitting evidence earlier than in previous years.
Healthcare unions push back
Union leaders reacted with anger to the announcement. Helga Pile, Unison's head of health, said: «Hard-pressed NHS staff will be downright angry at another below-inflation pay award.» She warned that for thousands at the bottom of the salary scale, half their increase went toward meeting the legal minimum wage.
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, welcomed the timely payment—the first in years. However, she stressed: «This award is just not enough to make up for more than a decade of pay cuts under the Tories.» GMB will push for more in upcoming structural talks.
The Royal College of Nursing went further, with general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger calling the award an insult. «Unless inflation falls, the Government is forcing a very real pay cut on its NHS workers. This knife-edge gameplaying is no way to treat people who prop-up a system in crisis,» she said.
The Royal College of Midwives highlighted that midwives work 100,000 unpaid hours every week. General secretary Gill Walton stated: «Without fixing the unfair pay system, this real-terms pay cut is an insult to midwives who work 100,000 unpaid hours every week just to keep maternity services running.»
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, criticized the Labour Government directly. «It beggars belief that a Labour Government should seek to ride roughshod over the health unions when deciding on NHS pay,» she said. She warned the announcement would worsen the NHS's recruitment and retention crisis.
Timely delivery marks shift
The pay increase will reach workers' pay packets in April, marking the first time in six years that an NHS pay award has been delivered on time. The government committed to accelerating the review process by remitting pay review bodies months earlier than in previous years.
The RCN noted that it and almost all other unions withdrew from the Pay Review Body, deeming it «not fit for purpose and fails nursing staff.» Unions expected direct negotiations with the government but received the same process as before.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
