Lowest-paid NHS staff to get emergency salary top-up
Ministers will give the lowest-paid NHS staff an emergency salary top-up to prevent them falling below the National Living Wage.
NHS Employers has confirmed staff on bands 1 to 3 of the Agenda for Change framework will receive a temporary advance to the 2025-26 pay award of 28p per hour, from April.
It declined to give a cost estimate to the NHS, but a very rough estimate based on comparing entry salaries suggests it could be well over £100m per year.
Government is unlikely to make clear who will pay for the uplift until wider pay awards and pay policy for 2025-26 is decided, HSJ understands. In recent years this has often been delayed until well into the year.
It comes after the government announced last October that the National Living Wage would rise to £12.21, from April. This put the staff on the lowest bands, such as porters and healthcare assistants, at risk of falling below the new rate. Workers on band 1, and to the top of band 2, currently earn £12.08 per hour but will now earn £12.36 per hour.
Entry-level band 3 is also receiving the advance to maintain the differentials with the top of band 2, and rise from £12.31 to £12.59, NHS Employers said.
The NHS pay review body recommended a consolidated 5.5 per cent pay uplift for Agenda for Change staff, effective from 1 April 2024, which the government accepted last summer.
The Unite union has pointed out that the emergency uplift still falls below the voluntary Real Living Wage scheme of £12.60 per hour.
Unite’s national officer Richard Munn said: “Today’s announcement highlights the dire state of pay. This is an emergency measure which only provides short-term respite to low pay in the NHS.
“Vital NHS staff including porters, cleaners, domestics, healthcare support workers, are all trapped in this spiral of low pay.”