NHS staff could be offered pay rise early next year in bid to end strikes

Published

3 years ago

December 22, 2022

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NHS workers could be offered a pay rise early next year in a bid to end further strike action – as unions and the government remain mired in a stalemate.

Health workers typically receive a backdated wage increase in the summer, even though recommendations are made by the independent Pay Review Body (PRB) in April.

Ministers have previously been criticised for delays to implementing the increase, with the trade union Unison accusing the government of “deliberately holding back” the PRB’s findings for months this year.

The Telegraph has reported that Steve Barclay, the health secretary, wants next year’s PRB process to be sped up so any extra money can be added to pay packets at the “earliest opportunity”.

While this does not mean a new or “fast-tracked” pay offer, a source close to the cabinet minister told Sky News political correspondent Ali Fortescue that he is “keen to get moving” with the process and doesn’t want it to be “bogged down” as it has been in the past.

The process of setting pay recommendations for next year is already under way.

The source said Mr Barclay is “willing to listen”, and there is an “opportunity in spring to assess if pay rises are affordable”.

But Unison’s head of health Sara Gorton said: “Before embarking on the 2023 pay round, ministers need to accept they’ve not raised wages sufficiently to stop key staff from leaving the service this year.

“The pay review body process is no longer delivering for NHS staff or the government. Direct talks with ministers to solve wage issues are the way forward.”

Unions – which have been calling for inflation-busting pay rises – have said they expect NHS workers to be offered a 2% increase next year, based on a letter sent by Mr Barclay to the PRB last month.

It follows two days of historic strikes by nurses and ambulance workers, which senior health leaders have warned will have a “knock on effect” on appointments and emergency calls.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, told Sky News that the health service “coped as well as could be expected” during the strikes due to planning and the public making “less use of 999”.

But he warned that the NHS “can’t afford to drift into further industrial action across the winter” as he urged the government and trade unions to come to an agreement.

NHS ‘paying price’ for austerity

He said the NHS is “paying the price” for 10 years of austerity, the COVID backlog and not addressing workforce issues – as vacancies reach 130,000.

Mr Taylor said: “This winter is going to be incredibly tough, there’s nothing we can do about that. But the industrial action adds to what is already a challenging situation, which is why, on behalf of leaders in the NHS, I repeat the call to the government to re-enter negotiations in good faith with the trade unions and to try to find a way of avoiding further industrial action across the winter.”

Ministers have continually insisted pay negotiations are not up to them as the independent pay review bodies recommend what salary increases should be, and the government has accepted that.

This year, the PRB recommended a pay rise of £1,400 for most NHS staff – an average uplift of 4%.

The pay review bodies are made up of experts in their field without political affiliations who take evidence from a range of sources, including trade unions and staff.

But last week, the GMB union – which represents tens of thousands of health workers – announced it was pulling out of the process used by the government to set NHS pay, as it questioned the independence of the PRB.

Some Tory MPs have also called on ministers to ask NHS pay reviewers to reconsider their recommendations as a way to end the strikes by offering higher rises.

The government has insisted higher pay offers are not affordable and the money would have to be taken out of frontline services.

There was no sign of the stalemate ending last night, as Unite general secretary Sharon Graham accused Mr Barclay of a “blatant lie” for saying ambulance unions had taken a “conscious decision” to inflict harm on patients.

Further ambulance strikes are planned next week, with unions threatening more action next year unless there are moves on pay talks.

Workers across several other industries are also set to strike in the build-up to Christmas.

World

Israel silences more crucial reporting voices from inside Gaza

Published

2 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Israel silences more crucial reporting voices from inside Gaza

The targeted killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif and four other colleagues by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) late on Sunday silences more crucial reporting voices from inside Gaza.

The IDF wasted no time in releasing a statement claiming it had “eliminated” Al-Sharif, calling him a “terrorist” who “posed” as a journalist for Al Jazeera.

Gaza latest: Follow live updates

The Committee to Protect Journalists warned in July that Al-Sharif was the victim of an Israeli smear campaign and that they feared for his safety.

The IDF had previously released documents which they say proved his involvement with Hamas.

No word from them on his colleagues – Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa – who they also killed. We are chasing.

Al-Sharif’s death – and that of his four colleagues – is a chilling message to the journalistic community both on the ground and elsewhere ahead of Israel’s impending push into Gaza City.

There will now be fewer journalists left to cover that story, and – if it is even possible – they will be that bit more fearful.

This is how journalists are silenced. Israel knows this full well.

It has also not allowed international journalists independent access to enter Gaza to report on the war.

Al-Sharif’s death has sent shockwaves across the region, where he was a household name. He was prolific on social media and had a huge following.

I was watching horrifying footage of the immediate aftermath of the strike in the taxi on my way into the bureau, and the driver told me how he and his family had all cried for Anas when the news came in.

His little daughter cried because of Al-Sharif’s little daughter, Sham, who she knew from social media.

“They call everyone Hamas,” my taxi driver said. “Men, women, children”.

Last month, Al-Sharif wrote this post: “I haven’t stopped covering [the crisis] for a moment in 21 months, and today I say it outright… and with indescribable pain.

“I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment… Gaza is dying. And we die with it.”

This is what journalists in Gaza are facing, every single day.

World

Israel’s PM tries to get on front foot in propaganda war he knows he is losing

Published

8 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Israel's PM tries to get on front foot in propaganda war he knows he is losing

Israel’s prime minister added more detail to his deeply controversial plans for military escalation in Gaza at a news conference with foreign media yesterday – despite the condemnation of the UN Security Council, which met in an emergency session and urged him to rethink.

Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a “fairly short timetable” to establish designated “safe zones” for the one million or so set to be displaced from Gaza City.

He also vowed to seize and dismantle Hamas’s final strongholds there – in the central refugee camps, and in al Mawasi, along Gaza’s southwestern coast.

This, per Netanyahu, is the only way to destroy the terror group, which he claimed “subjugates Gazans, steals their food and shoots them when they try to move to safety”.

Al Mawasi is already home to a significant displaced population, most of whom live in tents cramped up against the Mediterranean Sea, in what is already a designated humanitarian zone.

If members of Hamas live among them, rooting them out will be hugely complicated and will involve significant civilian casualties. If the residents of Gaza City can’t evacuate south to al Mawasi, where will they go?

Netanyahu’s plan is to set up more aid distribution sites through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and to flood Gaza with food.

He claimed his policy was not one of forced starvation – describing particular photos of starving babies as “fake news”, and accusing the media of painting a false picture.

“The only ones who are being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages,” the prime minister claimed.

I asked Netanyahu how he would go about preventing the kinds of daily killings taking place at aid distribution points in the months since GHF has been operating.

Doctors Without Borders has described these incidents as deliberately orchestrated.

The prime minister said increasing the amount of aid heading into the Strip was the answer.

“And by the way, a lot of the firing was done by Hamas seeking to have a response by our forces,” he added. “And very often they didn’t, they held back. They stayed their own fire even though their own lives were on the line.”

This was Israel’s prime minister trying to get on the front foot in a propaganda war he acknowledged he was losing. He was loath to admit the presence of famine in Gaza.

It took two questions before he acknowledged there was “deprivation”, even if he would not be drawn on whether his 11-week total blockade of the strip earlier this year had played any role.

He recognises that the appalled response of the international community to the human cost of this war, and the accusations of war crimes and genocide which Israel so vehemently rejects, are a terrible look.

This was his attempt to reclaim the narrative.

World

Defiant Netanyahu sets out plan for military escalation in Gaza – and describes photographs of starving babies as ‘fake news’

Published

14 hours ago

August 10, 2025