News / Health unions call for new pay negotiations

Health unions have insisted that the UK health departments reopen negotiations on next year’s pay rises in order to avoid a recruitment and retention crisis.

Though 2009/10 will be the second year of a three-year deal for staff on Agenda for Change contracts, the unions hope to activate a ‘reopener’ clause. If the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) finds evidence of ‘significant and material change’ in recruitment and retention and wider economic and labour market conditions, it may request the secretary of state allow it to review the agreed increases for 2009/10 or 2010/11 (2.54% and 2.5% respectively).

However, in its submission, NHS Employers insisted the deal should not be altered. It said higher inflation did not meet the criteria. At 2.75% this year’s pay rise was higher than the assumption for pay uplift in the tariff (2%) – trusts estimated the additional cost was between £800,000 and £1.5m, depending on their size.

In evidence to the PRB, health unions said the NHS was in danger of a disastrous fall in staff numbers. They said more than 25% of nursing students were dropping out of their courses, while a record number of nurses were seeking help on managing debt. The GMB union found 75% of members had to work overtime to pay their bills.

‘All this points to a recruitment and retention crisis right around the corner,’ said Dr Peter Carter (pictured above), Royal College of Nursing chief executive and general secretary.

‘Hardworking NHS staff put their faith in the government when they accepted their pay deal – now it’s time for the government to honour the day-in day-out commitment of NHS staff by agreeing to reopen talks to secure a fairer pay deal across the health service.’

In their joint submission, the four UK health departments suggested the deal did not need to be revisited. Three-month vacancy rates for PRB staff in March 2008 were slightly lower than 12 months earlier and, though the consumer price index stood at 5.2% in September, the departments insisted this would peak in the next few months before falling sharply.