The independent NHS pay review groups’ findings were fully adopted by the government today.
The government, the NHS, and trade unions provided a variety of evidence that the pay review bodies took into consideration.
All NHS employees covered by this year’s pay review will see salary increases. Nurses, paramedics, and midwives who work under the Agenda for Change contract will receive a salary increase of at least £1,400 this year with pay retroactive to April 2022.
In spite of a larger public sector pay freeze, they already received a 3 percent salary increase last year.
As a result, the lowest paid employees, such as porters and cleaners, would experience a rise in their basic salary of 9.3 percent this year over last year.
From March 2022 to March 2023, the average basic pay for nurses will rise from about £35,600 to about £37,000, and the basic pay for newly qualified nurses will rise by 5.5 percent, from £25,655 to £27,055.
As the government accepts the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) and the DDRB in full, dentists and doctors who fall under the purview of the Doctors and Dentists’ Remuneration Body (DDRB) will receive a 4.5 percent pay increase this year.
These raises are the highest for the public sector as a whole in almost twenty years, reflecting both the important contributions public sector employees make to the nation and the pressures that households are under from rising costs of living.
While the government temporarily halted pay increases for wider public sector employees with salaries over £24,000 last year, NHS employees received a pay increase of 3%.
The non-medical workforce, which includes nurses and paramedics, has thus seen an average cumulative pay increase of over 18% over the past five years, while consultants have seen an average cumulative pay increase of about 15%.
Following this most recent pay increase, the average nurse’s salary increased from £32,385 in 2018–19 to £37,000 in 2022–23.
Along with the pay increase, some employees will continue to receive performance bonuses, overtime pay, pay progression, and pay raises from promotions.
In addition to the 3 percent pay increase they received last year when pay increases were temporarily halted in the larger public sector, over one million NHS employees will receive a pay increase of £1,400 this year, according to Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay.
I am happy to accept the recommendations made by the independent pay review committees in their entirety.
We favour treating employees fairly.
It is encouraging that the pay review committees concur that appropriate and balanced increases today would be preferable to extremely large inflation-driven settlements in the long run.
This year’s pay awards strike a careful balance between acknowledging the critical role of public sector personnel, offering value to taxpayers, preventing further increases in the national debt, and taking care to prevent future price increases.
Long-term pay effects would be worse than proportionate and balanced raises now if inflation continued to rise due to exceptionally high inflation-driven settlements.
The pay review body’s recommendations for this year did not apply to those who were already covered by multi-year contracts.
The government and BMA reached an agreement on a multiyear wage plan for junior doctors in 2018.
This promised an 8.2 percent wage increase over the course of four years, and is now in its final year.
Along with an additional £90 million in investment, it increased compensation for junior doctors with the most experience, increased allowances for those who worked the most weekends, and raised pay for shifts ending between midnight and four in the morning.
Over 4,000 more doctors and 9,600 more nurses are employed by the NHS today compared to last year as a result of ongoing investments in recruitment and retention of the health and social care workforce.
The NHS will soon publish a 15-year workforce plan to further demonstrate its commitment to finding, developing, and keeping the best employees.
The number of subsidised medical school spots has increased by 1,500, and the pipeline for local doctors is being greatly enlarged (25 percent ).
These students will start enrolling in foundation training in waves starting this year.
Five additional medical schools have been established in England thanks to this expansion.
A training stipend worth at least £5,000 annually will also be provided to all qualified nursing, midwifery, and allied health professional students, with an additional £3,000 available for childcare and those pursuing particular specialities.
Every nurse, midwife, and allied health professional employed by the NHS in hospital, community, and general practise has access to a personal training budget of more than £1,000 over three years to support their individual learning and development needs as part of a £210 million investment in professional development.
Those who are most in need of assistance with daily expenses are the focus of the government’s efforts.
The wage awards should be compared to the £37 billion support package that has been given.
The majority of public sector overall pay awards are comparable to private sector awards.
The measure most comparable to these Pay Review Body decisions is the median private sector pay settlement, which was 4% in the three months leading up to May.