GOVERNMENT confirmation that NHS pay reviewers will not be required to make wage recommendations next year is a “slap in the face” to staff, healthcare union Unison said yesterday.

The government laid out the decision on pay awards for 2015/16 in a letter to the independent body.

Unison called the move “provocative” as it came just weeks before the union ballots NHS members in England for industrial action.

“Staff are the NHS’s most valuable asset and despite this the government is going ahead and denying the vast majority a pay rise — not just for this year, but for next year too,” said Unison head of health Christina McAnea.

“The Pay Review Body has kept the industrial peace for many years and by ignoring it this year and casting it aside for next, the government is being deliberately provocative.

“This letter will only add to our members’ determination to vote ‘yes’ for industrial action.”