The UK government will offer nurses, midwives and ambulance workers a 5% pay rise next year in a bid to end months of strikes, people familiar with the matter said.
(Bloomberg) — The UK government will offer nurses, midwives and ambulance workers a 5% pay rise next year in a bid to end months of strikes, people familiar with the matter said.
The proposal will be announced later on Thursday, according to the people, who requested anonymity discussing an unannounced offer. Trade unions including the Royal College of Nursing, Unison and GMB will then put the proposal to their members for a vote.
The government has been locked in talks with unions for over a week, after ministers agreed to discuss a cash payment for the current financial year as well as a pay rise for the next one, which starts in April.
The offer to NHS workers is expected to include a 2% one-time payment 2022-23 as well as a 4% “Covid recovery bonus,” according to a person familiar with the talks. The Telegraph first reported the new proposal.
Ministers are trying to draw a line under months of damaging strikes in the National Health Service — primarily over pay — which have seen close to 150,000 appointments canceled so far, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Doctors
Previously, the Department of Health and Social Care had only publicly recommended a pay rise of 3.5% for next year. The plans relate to around one million staff on the so-called “Agenda for Change” contract, which covers nurses, ambulance workers, midwives, physiotherapists, porters, cleaners and other workers.
Doctors are not involved in the talks as they are on different pay contracts. Junior doctors went on strike over pay for three days this week, piling pressure on a health service already struggling with significant staff shortages and soaring demand over winter.
Meanwhile strikes are ongoing in other sectors, with train services disrupted across the country as RMT members walk out on Thursday. Union leader Mick Lynch told Times Radio that resolving a dispute in the NHS could “set the tone for settlements in other sectors.”
An agreement with health workers will be a major boost for Rishi Sunak’s government after months of industrial action across the NHS, schools and railways, ahead of a general election expected next year.
Hunt’s Optimism
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt earlier said he was optimistic about an imminent pay deal for nurses and ambulance workers, but warned that pay rises must be carefully managed to avoid adding to inflation, which rose by 10.1% in the 12 months to January.
He told BBC radio on Thursday: “We have to pilot a very careful course to conclude the disputes but not to fuel inflation — that’s the fundamental tightrope that we have to walk.”
Teachers and doctors have so far refused to join talks. The government has said a call for a 35% pay rise from the British Medical Association, which represents doctors, is unaffordable.
“The government, NHS employers and unions representing the NHS Agenda for Change workforce have been holding constructive and meaningful discussions covering pay and non-pay matters,” the Department of Health and Social Care said in an emailed statement. “These talks are ongoing.”
(Updates throughout with context and quotes.)
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