Thousands call to extend pay deal to nurses in all NHS settings
Posted 08 June 2023 - 05:00
Online petition calls for all NHS staff on Agenda for Change contracts to get the full 2022-23 government pay deal, even in workplaces deemed ‘not NHS enough’
Thousands of people are backing a petition to extend the government’s 2022-23 pay award to all nurses working in NHS services across primary and social care who are ‘unfairly’ missing out because they are ‘not NHS enough’.
Government urged to extend pay deal to all Agenda for Change health staff
Tens of thousands of nurses and other healthcare workers on Agenda for Change (AfC) contracts working in NHS services will not get the 2022-23 ‘COVID backlog bonus’ or consolidated payment for 2022-23 from the government as they are not directly employed by NHS trusts.
Queen’s nurse Reuben Collings launched a petition calling on the government to ‘wake up and take responsibility’ and fund the payment for all healthcare staff working in the NHS.
Responding to the petition, advanced clinical practitioner Sarah Lyons said: ‘The consolidated part of the NHS pay award is being withheld from thousands of NHS employees. I work directly for the NHS providing solely NHS care but this government isn’t providing the one-off payment to many of my colleagues and me as promised.’
Government is obliged to respond to the petition
Another health worker called it a ‘huge kick in the teeth for loyal and hard-working employees that risked everything over the last few years.’
The petition has gathered more than 12,600 signatures in one week meaning the government is obliged to respond.
Mr Collings now hopes for the petition to get 100,000 names so that the motion will be debated in parliament.
Launching the petition online he wrote: ‘The NHS family is made up of many provider organisations that provide NHS-funded services through commissioned contracts. We believe the recent non-consolidated pay award should also be fully funded for these organisations.’
Fund pay deal for outsourced NHS services or risk losing staff, warn health leaders
Last month NHS Confederation and other health leaders wrote to the government urging them to fund the pay rise for those working across independent sectors, to keep pay parity across the health service and avoid a further exodus from social and community services.
The letter warned that thousands of nurses working in outsourced NHS services including end of life care, inpatient mental health services, community and acute care, sexual health services and prisons will fall behind their colleagues in other parts of the health service.
It added providers will likely have to choose between funding the pay rise and cutting services or forgoing the pay rise and risk losing staff.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said health and social care secretary Steve Barclay will respond to the letter from NHS Confederation leaders ‘in due course’.
They confirmed only staff employed by NHS organisations in Annex 1 of the NHS handbook would receive the extra payments for 2022-23.
Further information
Petition: Fund non-consolidated payments for organisations providing NHS funded services
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