Marvin OnumonuNHS staff will receive pay rises above inflation for the second year running, after Health Secretary Wes Streeting accepted the independent Pay Review Bodies’ (PRB) recommendations.
The pay increases, which cover all NHS workers including doctors, nurses, and support staff, will be backdated to April and appear in pay packets from August.
Funding will come from cuts to duplication and waste in the central health budget.
Consultants, specialty doctors, specialists and GPs will get a 4% pay rise.
Additionally, dentists will see a contract uplift.
Resident doctors will get an average increase of 5.4%, which is a 4% rise plus a consolidated payment of £750.
Agenda for Change (AfC) staff, including nurses, health visitors, midwives, ambulance staff, porters and cleaners, will get a 3.6% pay rise.
The starting salary for a nurse has gone up from £27,055 in 2022 to 2023 to about £31,050 this year, an increase of around £4,000 over three years.
Streeting said: “These are thoroughly deserved pay rises for all our hard-working nurses, doctors and other NHS staff.
“We inherited a broken health service with extremely low morale after years of pay erosion and poor industrial relations.
“Which is why, despite the difficult financial situation the nation faces, we are backing our health workers with above-inflation pay rises for the second year in a row.”
Streeting added: “This government was never going to be able to fully reverse a decade and a half of neglect in under a year, but this year’s pay increases – and last year’s – represent significant progress in making sure that NHS staff are properly recognised for the outstanding work they do.
“In the past ten months, through our Plan for Change, we have worked with staff to cut waiting lists by 200,000 and put the NHS on the road to recovery.
“These real terms pay rises demonstrate our commitment to continue on our shared mission, to build an NHS fit for the future.”
The Government has also accepted the recommendation to allow the NHS Staff Council to look at pay structure reform next year to address issues with banding for AfC staff.
Jim Mackey, CEO of NHS, said: “Today’s announcement of a real terms pay rise shows the government’s support for NHS staff and is recognition of their huge efforts and hard work over the last year.
“It is particularly welcome as it comes amid significant pressure on the public purse, and so the NHS will in turn focus on reform, cutting waste and reducing duplication to be as efficient as possible, while also offering patients faster and better care.”
