More than 1.4 million NHS workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive a 3.3 per cent pay rise from April, the Health Secretary has confirmed,
following months of industrial unrest that saw hospitals pushed to the brink over winter.
Wes Streeting said the government would accept the headline recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body, describing the uplift as a “real-terms pay rise” because it sits above the Office for Budget Responsibility’s inflation forecast of 2.2 per cent.
The announcement comes after a wave of strike action by resident doctors in the run-up to Christmas, which coincided with a surge in flu cases and severe pressure on hospital services nationwide. Doctors walked out between December 17 and December 22, forcing trusts to cancel appointments and redeploy senior staff to maintain emergency cover.
Mr Streeting previously condemned the strikes as “self-indulgent, irresponsible and dangerous”, warning that walkouts risked causing “fatal harm” to patients.
Resident doctors have already seen pay rise sharply in recent years, receiving an overall increase of 28.9 per cent over the past three years, including a 5.4 per cent uplift last year — the largest in the public sector.
However, unions representing wider NHS staff said the latest deal falls short, arguing that many workers will still struggle as wages fail to keep pace with the rising cost of living.
UNISON’s head of health, Helga Pile, said staff would be “downright angry” at what she described as another below-inflation settlement.
“Yet again, they’re expected to keep delivering more while effectively being given less, as pay continues to slide behind living costs,” she said. “Having an increase on time for once is only small comfort.”
Ms Pile warned that for thousands of the lowest-paid NHS workers in England, much of the increase will simply be swallowed up by the need to meet the legal minimum wage.
The union called for greater investment in pay for nurses, healthcare assistants, ambulance crews, porters and allied health professionals, arguing that government plans for the NHS depend on a stable and motivated workforce.
Ms Pile also criticised delays to promised reforms of the Agenda for Change pay structure, noting it has been 18 months since ministers pledged talks to overhaul the system.
The pay announcement follows developments north of the border, where resident doctors in Scotland have accepted a separate agreement that will deliver an average pay rise of almost 10 per cent this financial year and a further 9.4 per cent in 2026/27.