The government has announced a £1,400 pay award for NHS staff. This announcement is over 3 months late and falls far short of inflation. That makes it another real-terms pay cut.

UNISON is preparing a ballot of all members in the NHS – and we will encourage you to vote to take industrial action.  These preparations will include building up member and public support so that as many of you as possible feel informed and confident about taking part and voting for action in the ballot. We will publish further information soon.

What we know

The PRB has recommended that every NHS pay point should increase by £1,400. This announcement covers all NHS staff groups other than doctors. The PRB have also recommended that staff in Band 6 and 7 should get 4% instead of £1,400, where this is higher. The government has accepted those recommendations.

The increase falls well short of inflation for all staff, currently running at over 9% on the CPI measure and even higher on the RPI measure.

This means once again the PRB process and the government’s decisions have left NHS staff with another real-terms pay cut.

And because the government would not negotiate with us this is not a pay ‘offer’– the government will move to implement it whether or not you want to accept it.

Our position in this pay round

Working with other trade unions UNISON set out our position to the PRB earlier this year, calling not only for an inflation-busting pay increase, but for serious work to improve the overall pay system, ending poor practice with job banding and a failure to properly recognise additional hours.

Next steps

The government does not want to negotiate. It intends to implement this award, whether or not you think it is acceptable. You might see others describe this as a “deal” or an “offer.” It is neither of those things and that has an impact on how we involve you in responding.

It will be up to you and hundreds of thousands of other UNISON members to choose whether you want to challenge the government to do better. Better for staff, better for patients, better for an NHS which is on its knees after years of under-staffing.

The government had a chance to put NHS pay right so that the service could keep desperately needed staff and attract new ones. But it has chosen not to act.

We are the largest union in the NHS and we’re working closely together with 12 other NHS unions to co-ordinate how we respond.

So look out for emails from us and make sure you and your colleagues join UNISON if you want a say in the ballot – by standing together we can achieve change.

What you can do right now

If you are already a member it is vital that your membership details are up to date. If your employer or workplace information is out of date, or if your contact details have changed you might miss important ballot information.

If you need to update your membership details you can inform us of your most up to date details here.

Your local UNISON representatives are finding out about this at the same time we did. For the next few days they might not know the answer to your questions. Please bear with us while we produce guidance to help them best support you.