The pay deal was signed off at a meeting between the government and 14 health unions representing all NHS staff, apart from doctors and dentists. The move follows strikes by nurses, physios, and ambulance staff in recent months.
While some unions rejected the offer, it was agreed after a majority backed it, thanks to the support of some of the biggest unions in the NHS, such as Unison, the GMB, and those representing physios and midwives. All staff will now receive the extra pay.
Unison head of health, Sara Gorton, who chairs the joint NHS union group, said: “NHS workers will now want the pay rise they’ve voted to accept. The hope is that the one-off payment and salary increase will be in June’s pay packets.” However, she added that health staff should not have needed to strike on such a scale and that proper pay talks last autumn could have prevented the situation.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay welcomed the acceptance of the deal and urged unions that continue to threaten industrial action to reconsider. He said that while the government would continue to engage with unions on workforce changes, the agreement represented a fair outcome that had the support of a majority of colleagues.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) was among the unions that rejected the deal and has warned it will continue to pursue strike action. The RCN is expected to start balloting members in the coming weeks, with a result due in June. Unlike last time, the RCN is holding a national ballot, making it harder to get a strike mandate.
The health secretary is also meeting the British Medical Association on Tuesday to see if the two sides can agree on a way forward in the junior doctors’ pay dispute. They are on a different contract and are not affected by the agreement reached with other NHS staff.
