NHS Employers have published details of the government's revised pay offer for staff on Agenda for Change contracts for 2022/23 and 2023/24.
The government has confirmed to the Agenda for Change (AfC) trade unions and employers the details of a revised pay offer for 2022/23 and a proposal for a headline recurrent pay award uplift 2023/24.
The offer is made up of the following three parts:
1. Proposed non-consolidated award for 2022/23
- a 2 per cent non-consolidated payment to all staff
- a tiered cash payment depending on which of 5 tiers staff are in (with an average value of 4 per cent
The percentage component and backlog bonus are added together to give the total non-consolidated payment received that links to 2022/23. As the award is non-consolidated, this means it is a one-off payment, which is non-pensionable and does not feed into the calculation for additional earnings.
2. Proposed consolidated pay award for 2023/24
- a consolidated payment to all staff of 5 per cent
- further investment to create a new band 2 single pay point – by increasing the bottom of band 2 by 10.4 per cent. This will see entry-level pay in the NHS increase to £11.45 per hour.
The 2023/24 pay award is consolidated, meaning that it is a pensionable payment, which feeds into the calculation for additional earnings.
3. Proposed non-pay measures to support the NHS workforce
These measures include:
- Support to nursing staff around recruitment, retention and career development.
- A comprehensive NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to be published this year.
- The government will ask NHS England to review the existing arrangements used to make sure that there are sufficient staff, which will include developing a national evidence-based policy framework building on existing safe staffing arrangements.
- The government is also committed to review the timing and appointment process for the NHS Pay Review Body, and look at ways for the NHS Staff Council to have greater input.
Next steps
Separately to the ‘offer in principle’ above, the government has agreed with the RCN its commitment to address the specific challenges faced by nursing staff in terms of recruitment, retention and professional development. This will mean working with NHS Employers and all agenda for change trade unions over the next year to consider whether a separate pay spine for nursing might be established.
Visit the NHS Employers website to see how the changes would affect your pay band.
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