Update on pay negotiations for NHS workers in Wales
The RCPod has received a pay offer from the Welsh government for its NHS members in Wales. We are now consulting with members working in NHS Wales on the next steps.
Together with the other NHS unions, the RCPod has been in extensive negotiations with the Welsh government regarding the pay offer for NHS staff in Wales on Agenda for Change terms and conditions for both 2022/2023 and 2023/2024.
The talks have made significant progress and a further offer for Welsh NHS staff has been made.
For the 2022/2023 period, a collective agreement was reached earlier this year. It provided 3% comprised of 1.5% as a non-consolidated cash payment and 1.5% consolidated into pay, backdated to April 2022. This was on top of the average 4.7% increase already made following the Pay Review Body recommendations.
The additional offer on top of this for 2022/2023 is a one-off NHS Recovery Payment and will apply to all substantive staff and bank workers on Agenda for Change terms and conditions on a pro-rata basis. This payment will be on average a 3% non-consolidated payment.
For the 2023/2024 period, the offer is for a consolidated across-the-board increase of 5% to all Agenda for Change pay scales. This would take effect from 1 April 2023.
You can view the full offer here.
In line with the RCPod agreement process, this offer was discussed with the RCPod trade union representatives in Wales at a meeting on 19 April 2023. During the meeting, the representatives agreed to recommend acceptance of the revised pay offer. This recommendation has now been endorsed by the Employment Support Committee.
We are now consulting with members working in NHS Wales, on the next steps. Whilst the recommendation of the representatives in Wales is to accept the offer, it is for our members to decide if they wish to accept the pay offer from the Welsh government.
Members registered as working for NHS Wales were contacted by email on Wednesday 26 April regarding this offer and with details on how to participate in the consultation. Our consultation will remain open until 5pm on Friday 19 May. If you have not received an email and believe you should have, please contact our Employment Relations team.
A note about industrial action
To comply with current legislation, for a trade union to lawfully undertake industrial action a full postal ballot is required. In that ballot 50% of those eligible to vote must do so with a clear majority in favour of action and 40% of those eligible to vote must also vote in favour of action. The RCPod will only consider moving to such a ballot if those thresholds are also met in this consultative survey of those rejecting the offer.