News

Nurses in England receive final annual pay rise in line with 2018 three-year deal

1.7% pay increase seen as ‘little bit of cheer' as the NHS grapples with COVID-19 
Graph illustrating nurse’s pay increase from 2018-20

1.7% pay increase seen as ‘little bit of cheer' as the NHS grapples with COVID-19 


Pictutre: iStock

Nurses in England have received their third and final annual pay rise from the three-year deal agreed in 2018.

Pay is set to increase by 1.7% from 2020-21 and will be implemented by Agenda for Change (AfC) nurses’ next wage packets, and backdated to 1 April.

Agenda for Change nursing staff wages increased by 6.5% minimum over three-year period

Around 1.3 million AfC staff in the country are recipients to a 2018 pay deal increasing wages by at least 6.5% over a three-year period, depending on pay point and band level.

Unite national officer for health Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe said the pay rise was a 'little bit of cheer' as the NHS grapples with the COVID-19 challenge, but said there must be no return to pay austerity in the future.

View our COVID-19 resources centre

‘Nurses particularly deserve a pay rise more than anyone right now,’ he told Nursing Standard.

‘The reckoning is coming – we must make sure public services are valued in the way they should be valued.’

Three-year deal touted as biggest salary increase nurses have seen in a decade

NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer said: ‘Clearly, in the current circumstances, our teams deserve recognition for their dedication to their patients and communities.’

The three-year deal was touted as the biggest salary increase that nurses had seen in a decade and came about following months of negotiation by NHS staff unions, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS Employers.

However, unions faced criticism after some staff who had been told they would receive a 3% increase in July 2018, only received 1.5%.

The situation led to more than 1,000 RCN members submitting a petition to the college calling for a vote of no confidence in its ruling council.

Then-general secretary Janet Davies resigned in August 2018 and members of the ruling council resigned later in October.


Further information

NHS Employers – NHS Terms and Conditions 2020 (Agenda for Change). Pay bands and pay points from 1 April 2020


In other news

Jobs