Proactive Investors - Health secretary Steve Barclay has made a formal offer to NHS staff unions, with talks set to be held as early as Friday aimed at bringing an end to ongoing sector strikes.
Royal College of Nursing and Unison, which represent nurses and ambulance crews, put a pay offer from the government to members on Thursday, offering a one-off payment for 2022/3 and a permanent salary increase of 5% across the board.
I have made a formal offer to unions following constructive talks.It will give staff including nurses, paramedics and physios a fair pay rise while protecting our commitment to halve inflation.
NHS workers do a brilliant job and I urge union members to accept this offer. pic.twitter.com/5h8ay4WeUl
— Steve Barclay (@SteveBarclay) March 16, 2023
Deputy PM Domonic Raab subsequently said he hoped a similar offer could be given to junior doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) ahead of the pending talks.
Nurses called off strikes in February prior to ‘intensive’ pay negotiations, with ambulance crews following suit in England and Wales, though whether the offer will be accepted remains to be seen.
Junior doctors, meanwhile, walked out for 72 hours from Monday this week, as they sought pay increases to raise salaries from “as little as £14 an hour,” according to the BMA.
BMA co-chair Vivek Trivedi commented: “We were ready to talk months ago. Our formal dispute started over 150 days ago.
“I only hope that he [Steve Barclay] does come with good faith and a mandate to negotiate.”
Although a conclusion of the pay disputes has crept into sight, questions over funding renewed pay deals have been raised.
Rishi Sunak and Steve Barclay both reassured frontline services would not be affected and patients would not foot the bill.
Mathew Taylor, NHS Confederation boss, said it was "very important” for a plan to be laid out “in the next few days” on how extra costs would be met though, adding the Health Service does not simply have the money “lying around".