- Conference
- 2025 National Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 28 March 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that on 10 December 2024 the Department of Health and Social Care published its evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB).
That evidence set out headline policy positions for the Westminster government including:
a 2.8% funding allocation for recommendations from the NHS PRB in 2025/26
a request to the PRB to make recommendations on the proportion within “an affordable overall pay settlement for the DHSC” that should be spent on a headline pay award and the proportion that should be available to fund structural reform to the Agenda for Change pay system
Conference notes that the 2.8% position at the time it was announced was barely in line with the then lower CPI measure of inflation and that inflation has since been rising.
Conference notes that the PRB’s structural reform recommendation was an outcome from the 2024/25 round and was for a funded mandate to be given to the Staff Council for negotiations to ‘resolve outstanding concerns within the AfC pay structure.’
Conference asserts that the newly elected government’s decision announced in July 2024 to accept this recommendation in full was welcomed by UNISON and played a key role in how our members assessed the outcome of the 2024/25 pay round.
Conference therefore strongly opposes the government’s subsequent decision, as announced on 10 December 2024, to delay the initiation of these talks; to seek to fund them through taking away from the pot for headline pay awards; and to ask the PRB to perform a role in setting priorities for the talks for which it has neither the expertise nor remit.
Conference further notes that the 2024/25 recommendation for funded talks on structural improvements extended to the Cymru/Wales and Northern Ireland administrations. They also accepted in full the recommendation “that they support the issuance of a funded mandate to the NHS Staff Council and that they work with the Staff Council, their social partners and with the UK Government on this matter.”
Conference notes that on 24 January 2025 the Department of Health and Social Care announced it would impose an ‘advance’ on the 2025/26 pay award for staff in England on Band 2 and the entry point in Band 3, to be implemented on 1 April 2025 in order to comply with the new statutory minimum. This was not negotiated or discussed with Staff Council. The advance takes the lowest pay point to £12.36. The Northern Ireland and Welsh administrations have applied payments to take the lowest pay point to the bare legal minimum of £12.21 (Northern Ireland) or the real living wage figure of £12.60 (Cymru/Wales).
Failure to maintain pay ahead of the legal minimum is a sign of neglect and is demoralising for staff expected to work under huge pressure to keep the NHS running in return for poverty pay. This approach also leaves the NHS unable to compete with other employers in retail and logistics where pay is at least the real living wage for jobs with better working conditions.
Conference notes that through collective bargaining the union was able to achieve deals in 2018 and again in 2023 (as part of resolution of the pay dispute) that took minimum pay in the NHS above the real living wage.
Conference therefore condemns the failure of governments to commit to a mechanism to maintain this real living wage-plus position and to pay setting through full collective bargaining. It is clear that the PRB process repeatedly fails to deliver outcomes in time for the due date and that negotiations on low pay and structural issues across the bands are long overdue.
Conference applauds work done by branches and members since January 2025 to mobilise MP letter-writing activity and notes the work done by the HSGE to lodge initial letters of objection with all Annex 1 employers in England.
Conference welcomes the HSGE’s decision taken on 20 March to
launch in April, as the pay award becomes overdue, a pro-active member consultation on willingness to take action in the event of a pay outcome that does not keep up with the cost-of-living
communicate a ‘ballot to win’ strategy using a targeted ballot approach based on evidence of where we can win in order to deliver a strong message to government.
Conference notes the publication by the Office for National Statistics on 26 March 2025 of headline inflation figures hitting 2.8% on the CPI measure and 3.4% on the RPI measure (which includes housing costs). OBR forecasts published on the same day predict that for 2025 as a whole inflation will average 3.2% (CPI) and 4.1% (RPI).
In the light of this, Conference is clear that the Westminster government’s stated position on affordability would deliver real terms pay cuts.
Conference notes that Westminster spending decisions have an impact on spending and therefore pay outcomes for the NHS across all four parts of the UK, including Scotland where pay is set through collective bargaining.
The union must therefore intensify our efforts to secure a change of position from the Westminster government and press for the urgent convening of meaningful pay talks.
Conference calls on the HSGE to
1. Ensure that our Time for Talks campaigning reflects members’ Put NHS Pay Right priorities for 2025/26 as set out by the union to the Secretary of State in November 2024. These include a sustained solution to end poverty pay in the NHS; an above inflation rise for all; steps towards a shorter working week; and wider structural reform to fix the many problems in the AfC pay structure.
2. Support regions and branches to drive high participation levels in the member consultation in England and liaise closely with devolved health committees to support and align activity in their contexts.
3. Produce campaign and communication materials to ensure that activists and members understand the HSGE’s strategy for winning targeted ballots which bring government to the table for talks.
4. Prepare for potential talks by raising UNISON’s pay priorities with other unions in pursuit of a unified staff side position.
5. Assess the terms of any offer of talks according to whether there is potential to make meaningful progress on our pay priorities within a reasonable timeframe.
6. Seek early clarity on funding commitments linked to the outcome of any talks including devolved funding consequences and processes.
7. Assess the likely bargaining positions of employers and government recognising that within any negotiation, funding will not be unlimited, and the other side may seek to trade things we want for further levelling down of unsocial hours premiums or other changes to terms and conditions.
8.In any talks coming out of the 2025/26 round, seek joint union agreement to prioritise improving basic pay and gaps between bands which will benefit all staff as well as remove earnings anomalies for those working unsocial hours; and to resist any proposed reductions to unsocial hours premiums.
9. Consult members and branches as appropriate on progress of any talks and commit to an all-member consultation upon the conclusion of talks.
10. Build from any talks covering the 2025/26 round to develop a longer-term strategy by assessing member priorities including for a broader campaign to level up terms and conditions such as unsocial hours across the UK.
11.Push for urgent government commitments to move on from the failed Pay Review Body system and integrate full collective bargaining into longer-term workforce planning so that wider earnings, terms and conditions and contractual issues can be improved over time as a necessary part of rebuilding the NHS.
12. Ensure that the service group’s bargaining agenda recognises the wider context of UNISON and the TUC’s campaign for a statutory minimum wage of £15 an hour – working with the NEC to support achieving this as the statutory minimum across the economy while seeking to reach this milestone through bargaining in the NHS over the shortest possible period.