NHS pay rises
12th March, 2018
Chancellor Philip Hammond announced an end to the pay freezes or 1% caps which had been in force when he unveiled his Budget in November. You may have seen various press reports suggesting that the government and the Department for Health and Social Care are close to offering non-medical NHS staff a £3.3bn pay deal, amounting to a 6.5% pay rise for 1.3 million NHS employees over the next three years.
It has been reported that the Treasury and the Department for Health and Social Care will propose a 3% pay rise in the next financial year, followed by a 1% to 2% pay rise in the following two years. The deal the government is preparing to formally put to staff later this month would also see some NHS staff benefit from pay rises of 10% and, in certain circumstances, significantly more than that by 2021.
It is also reported that the government is looking for staff to forfeit one day of their annual holiday entitlement in return for the pay rises.
If the press reports are to be believed the proposed pay rise is clearly relevant to all NHS organisations employing Agenda for Change staff, but it will also potentially impact on suppliers and providers to NHS organisations taking on NHS contracts where TUPE applies. Any contractual, staggered pay rises agreed now will certainly be of interest to suppliers and sub-contractors in considering the value and costs involved in future NHS contracts.
This is a complicated and highly litigious area of employment law. If your organisation has any concerns about this please do not hesitate to contact our NHS employment law experts, Mark McKeever and Stuart Craig.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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