£52 million pay offer for NHS staff

The government has offered NHS workers in England a pay package worth £52 million. Staff in pay bands 5 to 8a will receive an increase of 2.5% plus £38 towards professional regulation fees. Staff in pay bands 3 and 4 will also get a 2.5% rise in salary plus a cash payment of £38. Lower paid staff in pay bands 1 and 2 will be guaranteed an increase in salary of £400.

For all of these awards 1.5% will be backdated from 1 April 2007 and the remainder paid from 1 November 2007 in line with public sector pay policy. The Department of Health (DH) will also make a one-off ring-fenced sum of £14 million available for additional local training initiatives this year. The training monies are only available to staff who are not eligible for state registration. In radiography this includes assistant practitioner and helper grades.

The package of measures also proposes talks to consider a multi-year pay deal for the future. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will not stage the award. This improved package for NHS (England) is an option for the other three countries to adopt.

New health secretary Alan Johnson said: “I have pledged to listen to frontline NHS staff and work with them to provide a health service that meets everyone’s needs. This offer preserves the tough line on public sector pay which we have had to take this year but I believe that it will help low paid staff on the first rung of the career ladder, not only through improved pay, but also through help with training.

“Any potential multi-year deal would have to be good for staff, represent good value for money for patients and the taxpayer and be affordable for the NHS. It would also have to be non-inflationary and consistent with the government’s current public sector pay policy. We need to put our difficulties behind us and look to the future.”

Warren Town, SoR industrial relations director, commented: “If Alan Johnson has listened to frontline staff, has he not heard us say that the staging of this award is ludicrous given the current level of inflation? It is impossible to ‘look to the future’ when the government continues to deny that they have staged an award which is below inflation.”

He continued: “All unions, including the SoR Council, state that this is the best that can be achieved through negotiation and recommend the deal. Further improvement can only be through participation in direct action across the public sector. Any decision on future collective action will depend on the members’ responses to the revised deal and will be subject to agreement by unions represented on the staff council.”

The TUC pay reference group, of which the SoR is a member, will meet on 3 September to consider developments across the public sector, including HM Treasury’s statement that any multi-year pay deal for the public sector must be within inflation targets.

Posted: 21/08/2007