DECEMBER 10 saw the government recommend a 2.8 per cent wage rise across the NHS for April 2025. This decision has instantly been met with anger and dismay from Unison, our fellow trade unions and workers.
 
Despite displaying good intentions on their arrival to government in the summer, and in early talks regarding the next year’s pay round, it appears that, once again, our concerns have been ignored.
 
Unison, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Unite wrote to Health Secretary Wes Streeting in November, urging him to bypass the NHS review body process and hold direct talks with unions about modernising the Agenda for Change salary scales and next year’s wage increase. Instead, he has allowed the discredited pay review body (PRB) to dictate another insulting offer.
 
What we now see is a Labour government continuing a failed legacy of pay set by its predecessors. The yearly cycle of late, often below inflation pay awards, has contributed to a mass exodus of NHS workers and major retention problems. This is a leaky tap that won’t be fixed by the same outdated model of pay.
 
The only way we can break this cycle is through a radical overhaul of how NHS pay is determined. This will only happen with worker-led power and negotiation.
 
The winter of 2022 saw NHS staff stand on picket lines across Britain. The enthusiasm for change and action has only increased. Those who have stayed in the NHS are willing to fight for better pay and conditions.
 
This has been evident in Unison’s Fair Pay for Patient Care Campaign, which has seen more than £1.2 million of owed wages won and awarded to healthcare support workers so far. None of this was won without a fight. However, it is crucial that this is built upon.
 
Workers don’t want to hear that the past 14 years have left the country with no money, especially when there are ample money supplies for arms, war, and to help keep private companies afloat.
 
Research from We Own It found that private companies take £10m out of the NHS in profit every week. Meanwhile, private healthcare companies are currently vying for public money and contracts.
 
The solution is clear: end all privatisation in the NHS and bring services back in-house with a full renationalisation of the NHS. Scrap the discredited PRB and get around the table with trade unions to propose a real pay award that ends the outdated yearly cycle of catching minimum wage.
 
Iain Mooney, Unison Health Service Group executive.