Health Secretary warns nurses their pay deal is fair

The Health Secretary has warned nurses they have had a fair pay deal as its union threatens further strike action.

Nurses have said they are “appalled” by the “galling” pay rises offered to consultants this week and told officials it increased the likelihood of a return to the picket line.

Writing in The Telegraph, Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, said all NHS staff including nurses had already received a fair deal with “two substantial one-off payments”, amounting to more than £2,000 for senior nurses.

Ms Atkins, who met the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and other unions within days of taking over from Steve Barclay, said she “valued” all healthcare staff and was keen to work “collaboratively” with the nursing union.

“The Government values the contribution of all our health and care workers,” she said. “That is why we negotiated a fair outcome with nurses, paramedics and others within the Agenda for Change staff group earlier this year, which included two substantial one-off payments in 2022/23.

“And why the changes to National Insurance announced by the Chancellor last week will mean the average nurse will see an extra £530 in their annual pay packet,” she said.

But nursing leaders are now calling for “urgent” talks and want their pay to be reformed as well.

The NHS’s greatest pay inequality 

Nurses took strike action throughout last winter along with paramedics and other staff, all of whom were given a five per cent pay rise this tax year and a lump sum of at least £1,655.

Although RCN never formally agreed to the offer, the majority of unions did and so the NHS Staff Council accepted the pay rise on behalf of all staff.

The RCN did not clear the legal mandate to continue striking, but remain in a “formal pay dispute”. 

Pat Cullen, the RCN chief executive and general secretary, wrote to Ms Atkins this week in the wake of the offer to senior doctors to demand further pay talks for nurses.

In that letter she reminded the Health Secretary that at the last ballot, more than 100,000 nurses across England had voted to strike.

“The Government has now shown it has the political will to negotiate on pay reform for some of the highest earners in the NHS in contrast to our members who received the lowest pay rise in the public sector,” Ms Cullen said, adding that offers to nurses had been “consistently eclipsed” by other public sector workers.

“It is time for nurses and nursing to be treated with the respect they deserve and for nursing pay also to be reformed,” she said.

“Nursing is one of the most diverse and female-dominated professions within the public sector, and the injustice of nursing pay is also a gender issue. The greatest pay inequality in the NHS relates to nursing. This must be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

Consultants are set to vote on the deal agreed by the Government and British Medical Association (BMA) in the coming weeks.

Ms Atkins, who reached a deal with unions just two weeks after taking up the post, said “intensive negotiations” had led to a “modernising package” and a deal that is “fair for taxpayers and doctors”.

If accepted it will reform senior doctors’ pay scales, giving them rises of between zero and 12.8 per cent on top of the six per cent they have had this year, and reducing the number of different pay grades from eight to four.

It also promises to overhaul the way the independent pay review body operates, taking in “wider economic factors” such as the doctor’s labour market and rates other countries pay, rather than using inflation as the main metric.

She urged unions to accept the “fair and reasonable offer” and “allow us all to focus on delivering the very best care for patients”.

A faster, simpler and fairer health care system

In my first speech as Health and Social Care Secretary, I made it clear that I was committed to finding a fair and reasonable resolution to the doctors’ strikes that have disrupted care and put pressure on our NHS, writes Victoria Atkins.

Following intensive negotiations, I’m delighted that we’ve taken a significant step in this direction by making an offer to medical unions to end months of damaging consultants’ strikes. This deal is fair to taxpayers and doctors.

My approach in these negotiations and in everything I do will be to reform our health and social care system to be faster, simpler, and fairer for patients and NHS staff.

The Government values the contribution of all our health and care workers. That is why we negotiated a fair outcome with nurses, paramedics and others within the Agenda for Change staff group earlier this year, which included two substantial one-off payments in 2022/23 worth six per cent of the Agenda for Change pay bill. And why the changes to National Insurance announced by the Chancellor last week will mean the average nurse will see an extra £530 in their annual pay packet.

I have already met with the British Medical Association (BMA) and Agenda for Change representatives and plan to meet with other unions soon. I am keen to work collaboratively, and this offer demonstrates that. We have heard the concerns of the 55,000 consultants working in the NHS – particularly around retention, motivation, and morale. In return, the Government has made a reform offer that addresses these concerns and delivers value for hard-working taxpayers.

The offer includes significant changes to consultants’ pay scales. If accepted, these reforms will reduce the number of pay points and the time it takes to get to the top of the scale. We will couple this with performance gateways to strengthen the link between pay progression and competence.

These reforms will be the first we’ve made to consultants’ pay scales in 20 years. Designed to address the gender pay gap in medicine, they will put into practice changes to pay bands recommended by Prof Dame Jane Dacre in her review into the Gender Pay Gap in Medicine.

This is a modernising package. It will focus on the long-term, ensuring we move forward from this period of disruptive strikes.

It gives consultants access to enhanced shared parental leave provisions – rightly bringing them in line with staff across our NHS.

Our offer includes a commitment to review the operation of the relevant independent pay review body – the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration.

We will examine how its members are appointed, the timing of rounds, remit letters and terms of reference, and the data it bases its pay recommendation on – working alongside unions. Any reforms will be made in time to benefit consultants in the 2025/26 financial year.

The BMA and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association will put our offer to their members and, crucially, are pausing strikes while voting takes place.

The consultants that work across our NHS use their tremendous energy, empathy, and expertise to do so much transformative and lifesaving work.

I urge them to accept the fair and reasonable offer we’ve made.

Because ending the strikes will allow us all to focus on delivering the very best care for patients, cutting waiting lists, and building an NHS that’s sustainable for the long-term.

Victoria Atkins is the Health Secretary