NHS workers vote to accept three-year pay deal

More than a million health workers will get a pay rise worth 6.5 per cent over the next three years after a deal was accepted by unions.
Women missed out on cancer screeningWomen missed out on cancer screening
Women missed out on cancer screening

Members of 13 unions representing hospital cleaners, nurses, security guards, physiotherapists, emergency call handlers, paramedics, midwives, radiographers and other NHS staff across England voted to accept the deal.

The GMB is the only union involved in the NHS which has rejected the offer.

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Unison’s Head of Health, Sara Gorton, said: “The lifting of the damaging one per cent cap on pay will come as a huge relief for all the employers who’ve struggled for so long to attract new recruits and hold on to experienced staff. But this three-year pay deal must not be a one-off.

Health workers will want to know that ministers are committed to decent wage rises across the NHS for the long term, and that this isn’t just a quick fix.

NHS staff should get the money in their July pay packets, backdated to April, after unions overwhelmingly to accept the deal.

It was made possible with an extra £4.2bn of government funding. Hospital caterers, porters, administrators and other staff on the lowest grades will receive a wage rise of more than £2,000 this year - an increase of between 11 and 13 per cent.

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Every NHS worker in England will now be paid at least £8.93 an hour, or £17,460 if they work full-time.

GMB officials will meet next week to decide their next move after members rejected the deal by almost nine to one.

Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “This is an incredibly well-deserved pay rise for staff who have never worked harder. Salaries will increase from between 6.5 per cent and 29 per cent, with some of the biggest increases for the lowest paid.”