Wales pay deal tops England, says minister
The Welsh government announced the agreement, saying trade unions had accepted its offer unanimously. It added that the deal matched that offered to staff in England and, in some places, goes further.
As in England, individual staff not at the top of their pay band could receive cumulative increases of up to 29% over three years. Staff at the top of their bands will receive a cumulative 6.5% pay rise over the period.
The uplift is backdated to April and the number of pay points reduced, removing overlapping bands. The latter should lead to faster pay progression. Higher starting pay should aid recruitment and the government has guaranteed to fully fund the pay award over the three years.
Welsh health secretary Vaughan Gething (pictured) said the deal exceeded that in England in a number of areas, including more generous sickness payments.
He added: ‘We have committed extra funding beyond the consequential funding we received following the pay rise in England, to offer a deal that is not only fair to staff and taxpayers but will also lead to a better NHS for Wales.’
In Scotland, the government said GPs will receive a 3% pay rise, backdated to April. It said the rise would apply both to salaried doctors who earn less than £80,000 and independent contractors. NHS salaried doctors and dentists who earn more than £80,000 will receive an extra £1,600. The Scottish British Medical Association said the announcement would make little impact on recruitment and retention.
In a further development, the Department of Health and Social Care in England is carrying out a scoping exercise on whether to expand the Senior Salaries Review Board (SSRB) remit to include NHS very senior managers. The pay of around 360 executive senior managers (ESMs) in the Department’s arm’s length bodies is currently in the SSRB’s remit – though they were temporarily removed this year.
The review body said it believed making recommendations on ESM pay, but not on that of very senior managers was ‘neither practical nor sensible’.Related content
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