The new offer includes a one-off payment for the current financial year 2022/23 worth between £1,655 and £3,789 for Agenda for Change staff in England.
The UK government have offered nursing staff in England a new pay offer.
This includes a one-off payment for the current financial year 2022/23 worth between £1,655 and £3,789 for Agenda for Change staff in England.
As well as a 5% consolidated pay increase for 2023/24 and the creation of a new exclusive pay spine for all nursing staff intending to come into force for 2024/25.
Union UNISON have said they will recommend to its members that they accept the new pay offer.
Commenting on this, UNISON head of health Sara Gorton said: 'It’s a shame it took so long to get here. Health workers had to take many days of strike action, and thousands more had to threaten to join them, to get their unions into the room and proper talks underway.
'If accepted, the offer would boost pay significantly this year and mean a wage increase next year that’s more than the government had budgeted for. This is better than having to wait many more months for the NHS pay review body to make its recommendation.'
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This offer comes three months after the Royal College of Nursing's first ever day of strike action in England.
‘The government was forced into these negotiations and to reopen the pay award as a result of the historic pressure from nursing staff. Members took the hardest of decisions to go on strike and I believe they have been vindicated today,’ said Pat Cullen , RCN chief executive.
There has also been a commitment from the government to a national evidence-based policy framework on safe staffing, focusing on registered nurses, that will draw on legislation in the rest of the UK and internationally.
The RCN’s elected council will recommend that members vote to accepting the offer, formally ending the dispute between the union and the government.
‘Our members will have their say on it and I respect everybody’s perspective. Each should look closely at what it means for them.
‘It is not a panacea, but it is real tangible progress and the RCN’s member leaders are asking fellow nursing staff to support what our negotiations have secured.’
NHS Employers called the offer a positive step for NHS teams and their patients.
'We will now play our part in explaining (and hopefully implementing) the government’s investment in pay in both the current year and the next. We also look forward to working with our trade union colleagues to further improve the retention, protection and career development of NHS staff as set out in the deal,' said Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers.
The NHS Confederation also welcomed the news but chief executive, Matthew Taylor warned that funding for the new offer does not come out of already stretched NHS budgets.
'As always the devil will be in the detail. Leaders will be keen for the government to explain the full mechanics of how this award will be funded and stress that any funding for the award should not come out of already stretched NHS budgets, otherwise it will be a situation where we are robbing Peter to pay Paul with patients bearing the costs.'