Union leaders stood together in Westminster to deliver a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, calling for the focus and investment needed to make fair pay in the NHS a reality. Paul Day, PDA Union Director, was in attendance and represented the PDA. In the letter, signed by 78,000 NHS staff and supported by the 14 health unions, members have told the government that 3.3% is not enough, and it must now put money on the table to reform Agenda for Change.
Fair pay for NHS staff is the first step to safe and effective care in every setting, and a health service fit for the future, but talks without new funding won’t deliver the change needed. The Health Secretary must ensure there is no further delay. Hundreds of thousands of NHS workers are losing faith and won’t wait much longer.
Read the joint letter below:
Dear Secretary of State, Minister of State,
3.3% is not enough.
NHS staff feel angry and let down. Day in, day out it’s a struggle to deal with understaffing, overwork and the constant feeling that – hard as staff try – patients are not getting the standard of care they should.
Years of eroded wages have left staff demoralised, struggling with rising bills and increasingly driven to seek better-paid work elsewhere.
The Pay Review Body process has not delivered.
We hoped things could start to change, and that your government would negotiate with unions and employers to agree a plan for improving pay.
Instead, once again you’ve gone with a Pay Review Body recommendation for a real-terms pay cut. And using this process gives staff and their unions no say in the matter.
We say 3.3% is not enough.
Not enough to keep pace with the cost of living.
Not enough to restore what has been lost through pay erosion.
And not enough to address the longstanding unfairness of staff on the Agenda for Change (AfC) contract getting less than other groups.
Talks must improve on 3.3% and rebuild trust.
You are imposing a 3.3% award in April. In addition, you say there will be negotiations to improve the AfC pay structure, with any increase backdated to April if a deal is reached. But these talks on the pay structure were first promised more than 18 months ago, and that delay means confidence has been seriously damaged.
For trust to be rebuilt, progress must happen quickly, and you must provide clarity on how these negotiations can improve on what staff have seen so far.
We all want the NHS to succeed.
No one wants the NHS to recover more than the staff who deliver it. But that requires a workforce properly supported to give its best.
Your 10-year plan aspires to make the NHS ‘the country’s best employer’. NHS staff now call on you to take the first step: recognise the problems with NHS pay and provide sufficient funding so unions and employers can agree how to fix them.
Learn more
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists, and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.