Pay 2008

Updated: Thursday 19 June 2008

Pay deal accepted

NHS trade unions have agreed a joint statement on pay which has now been sent to the Department of Health and NHS Employers.

This paves the way for ensuring that the pay rise is included in members’ July pay packets and backdated to April.

It also gives notice of the intention to trigger the inflation re-opener clause, should inflation continue to rise.

Read the Joint NHS trade unions statement (Word 21.5KB).

Read the press statement from the RCN and Unison.

Pay proposal

The Government has proposed a three year pay deal for staff in the NHS. The RCN’s consultation with members about the proposed three-year agreement ended on Wednesday 28 May. RCN members have overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Government’s pay deal worth 7.99 per cent over three years and Council formally agreed to accept the deal at it’s meeting on 5th June 2008.

Members were asked to give their views on the proposed deal through the RCN’s extensive regional branch network and via the RCN’s website between 21 April and 28 May 2008. The consultation showed 92.7% were in favour of the deal.

For more information about the pay proposals and the consultation, which was conducted via the RCN's network of boards and branches, please visit: www.rcn.org.uk/payproposals.

Other unions update

In addition to the RCN, Unison and the Society of Radiographers have now accepted the Government pay proposals. Unite are balloting with a closing date of 11 June and all other unions have rejected the proposals.

Current economic climate

You may be concerned about the economic developments that occurred earlier in May. We learnt that inflation has risen (CPI to 3% and RPI to 4.2%) and the longer term economic forecasts suggest a continued rise. There are some concerns that signing up to the three year deal could lock us in to lower than inflation awards in 2009/10 and 2010/11 and this is generating arguments that the proposed deal should therefore be rejected.

These economic developments are concerning. However, the RCN’s negotiators consider that the Review Body’s recommendation of a 2.75% increase in pay for 2008/09, which the Government has accepted, is still the best that could be achieved for this year. It is certainly the best offer to date in the public sector*. If members reject the award, they would need to be prepared to take industrial action to try for an improved offer. Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, was very clear when reporting the proposal to Parliament that 'if trade union members reject the 3 year deal, we will need to review the NHSPRB's recommendations and consider whether to accept, stage or abate them in the context of a one year settlement.'

The RCN is closely monitoring the situation and we have already started discussions, necessarily informal at this stage, with the Review Body and the Department of Health about what sort of evidence might now be required, to re-open negotiations for 2009 – the current offer has built into it a re-opener clause in case inflation rises sharply, the labour market changes significantly, or the profession experiences problems with recruitment and retention.

At the RCN’s Congress in April Alan Johnson said that if inflation rose and continued to rise that there was ‘not any force on earth’ that would stop the independent Pay Review Body and the RCN and other unions from coming back and re-opening that clause.

Some of you have asked the question - what happens if the RCN and Unison consultations produce a decision to accept and all the other unions reject? The RCN and Unison have nearly 900,000 members between them. If the RCN and Unison accept, there will be an agreement. If Unison were to reject and the RCN accepts there would not be a majority in favour of acceptance and the Government will, as Alan Johnson made clear, review the NHSPRB's recommendations and consider whether to accept, stage or abate them in the context of a one year settlement.

* As the current three year deal stands, most RCN members will get an average increase of 15% over the next three years, apart from nurses at the top of band 5 who will receive approx 8.5%. For more details please see the case study examples below.

Case studies on the three year pay deal (XLS. 139KB)

Pay review process

Every year, the Pay Review Body receives evidence on pay and related issues from a number of organisations including NHS staff side organisations, NHS employers and the Department for Health. It also carries out its own research, which includes the annual workforce survey.

Members of the Pay Review Body also visit trusts and health units to meet staff and managers, to gather information and views on pay and related issues and gain a better understanding of issues affecting the remit groups.

This information is used by the Pay Review Body to make a recommendation about the pay of NHS staff in the following financial year.

Current pay round

The evidence for this year’s pay round was submitted at the end of October 2007. The evidence submitted by Staff Side examines the current state of the UK economy, NHS finances and affordability, morale and motivation of staff, workload, pay and career progression. It also compares NHS pay with other public and private sector staff groups, and look at the issues regarding pay in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

To support this evidence, Staff side commissioned Income Data Services (IDS) to carry out research on behalf of all the NHS trade unions. Over 24,000 NHS staff took part in the survey and the report reveals 84 per cent of staff have higher workloads than a year ago, 70 per cent work more than their contracted hours, and three out of five health workers have considered leaving the health service in the last twelve months.

Staff side evidence

The following documents are available for you to download:

Staff side has responded to supplementary questions set by the Pay Review Body about the evidence it submitted at the end of October 2007. This document, that was submitted on 30 November 2007, includes Staff side's response to the primary evidence submitted by the Department of Health and NHS Employers.

RCN evidence

The RCN evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body included a cover note and four reports from the current membership survey.

RCN Cover Note (Word 31KB)
This document introduces the RCN’s separate evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body and summarises the key findings of the membership survey, Holding On. The final paragraph asks the Review Body “to award an above inflation pay award to avoid a further loss of morale and to continue to attract good quality employees into the service.”

Holding on: nurses' employment and morale in 2007 (PDF 1.1MB) (Publication code: 003 181)
This report includes the results from the 2007 employment survey of a sample of RCN members. There are separate reports for:
Scotland (PDF, 762KB) (Publication code: 003 189),
Wales (PDF 744KB) (Publication code: 003 190) and
Northern Ireland (PDF, 749KB) (Publication code: 003 191).

RCN Response to Supplementary Questions set by the Pay Review Body (Word, 31KB)
The RCN has responded to supplementary questions set by the Pay Review Body about the evidence it submitted at the end of October 2007. This document, that was submitted on 30 November 2007, includes the RCN's response to the primary evidence submitted by the Department of Health and NHS Employers.

Department of Health evidence

Department of Health evidence (external link)
The Government argues that the pay of all staff on Agenda for Change contracts should be increased by 2 per cent in the next financial year based on the “need to maintain macro-economic stability through compliance with public sector pay policy.”

NHS Employers evidence

NHS Employers evidence (external link)
NHS Employer’s evidence recommends a pay uplift of up to 2 per cent, which they argue would be affordable for organisations in light of other cost pressures and the need to make efficiency savings.

Timeline

The RCN and Staff Side submitted their evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body by the agreed deadline of 31 October 2007.

The NHS Review Body met for the first time in early November to consider the evidence submitted by Staff Side, individual unions, NHS Employers and the Department of Health

Staff Side gave oral evidence in late December, and the RCN appeared before the Review Body in January 2008.

The Government announced proposals for a three-year deal on Monday 7 April 2008. The NHS Pay Review Body has recommended an award of 2.75% in 2008/09, and the Government has agreed to honour this in full.

Materials

The following material is available for you to download:

Pay 2008: Economic Context and Public Sector Pay (Word Doc, 621Kb)
This is a briefing for RCN activists and members that outlines the background to this year's pay round and the awards that other public sector groups, such as teachers and prison officers, have received. It was published on 7 March 2008.

Pay 2008: Powerpoint Presentation (Ppt, 201Kb)
This powerpoint presentation is for RCN activists and members. It can be used to present to groups and meetings of members. It was published on 7 March 2008.