Resuming talks on NHS pay structure is essential
Our fourteen unions represent 1.2 million health workers across the NHS. We are calling on the Government to resolve problems with the NHS pay structure, which is seriously outdated.
We have also been calling for any improvements to be backdated, and paid on top of the 3.3% pay award you received earlier this year as recommended by the NHS pay review body.
We know most NHS workers now feel they are receiving second-class treatment following pay awards below those given to doctors and dentists.
And we also know many staff in England look to Scotland, where the government negotiates directly with unions and Scottish staff now earn more than colleagues elsewhere in the UK doing the same jobs.
NHS workers have been promised time and again that the Government will fix structural pay issues. But this is unfinished business and you are still waiting.
A Government that says it cares about efficiency and better industrial relations can’t continue to put its faith in a pay review system that belongs to a bygone era.
Ministers must now inject pace and serious cash into the talks so unions and employers can reach a settlement.
Changes to the pay structure are desperately needed and long overdue. Without those changes, resentment will grow over deals made with other groups of NHS workers and we risk undermining efforts to retain the staff that patients so badly need.
We are urging the government to resume talks now. Meanwhile, most health unions have said they will boycott the pay review body process.
All 14 NHS Agenda for Change unions are calling on members to be prepared, and make sure they are ready to receive urgent communications. Please take five minutes to check your record with your union, making sure your employer, workplace, address, and contact details are all up to date.
NHS staff received a 3.3% pay award for 2026/27, in line with Pay Review Body recommendations. This was paid in April 2026.
We say 3.3% is not enough. It has already been overtaken by increase to the cost of living and does nothing to address longstanding issues with the NHS pay structure.
The joint health unions delivered our open letter with signatures from over 78,000 NHS staff, demanding a proper pay rise and a long overdue overhaul of the NHS pay structure.
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.
To stay up to date with your NHS pay campaign, please ensure your union has correct and up to date contact details on record.
The letter signed by the joint unions and over 78,000 of our members read as follows:
“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.”