The BDA Trade Union National Executive Committee (TUNEC) is recommending that members in England accept the latest pay offer from the Government for NHS workers. The BDA believes it is the best achievable offer by negotiation.
Consultation with members on the offer is now taking place via email and will run until 28 April. Despite the recommendation for acceptance, members are free to reject it. However, the BDA understands that in the event that it is rejected, it is highly likely that the whole package for 2022/23 and 23/24 will be taken off the table and the recommendation of the Pay Review Body of 3.5% will be imposed.
Annette Mansell-Green, Director of Trade Union and Public Affairs at the BDA, who represented the dietetic workforce in the talks with the Secretary for Health and Social Care in March said: “We want to be clear that this is not the position that we wanted to find ourselves in and we would have much preferred to achieve an offer, which would deliver some element of pay restoration. Unfortunately, at present that is not achievable in the NHS or other areas of the public sector.”
Talks with the Government, alongside other NHS unions took two weeks and came about following industrial action by NHS unions, alongside the BDA’s own mandate for industrial action in 42 NHS Trusts. The BDA also wrote to the Prime Minister to outline planned industrial action.
NHS unions, with others involved in the pay talks, secured an addition to the 2% already on the table as a non-consolidated pay uplift for those on Agenda for Change contracts for 2022/23, comprising an extra 4% on the total pay bill. This has been modelled into a total cash amount for each pay band of no less than £1655 rising incrementally through the pay bands.
For 2023/24 a 5% consolidated pay uplift has also been secured, including an additional boost for Bands 1 and 2, which achieves a real living wage, resulting in 10.4% for the lowest paid staff.
Annette added: “If accepted, the offer would boost pay significantly this year and mean a wage increase next year that’s more than the government had budgeted for. Our mandate for industrial action still stands if members decide to reject this offer but we recommend its acceptance as the best achievable by negotiation.”
The full breakdown of the revised offer achieved, including non-pay commitments to address safe staffing, career progression, job evaluation improvements and others including tackling violence and aggression can be found here.
