The Northern Ireland Department of Health has finally accepted the Pay Review Bodies recommendations on pay for HSC staff on Agenda for Change terms and conditions for 2024/25. This includes:
- A consolidated 5.5% increase for all Agenda for Change staff employed in HSCNI for 2024/25
- The Minister has committed that, should funding become available within the remainder of the 2024/25 financial year, the effective date of the pay award will be amended to 1 April 2024
- If there isn’t sufficient funding made available during 2024/25, the Minister has agreed that any shortfall will be addressed at an early stage of the 2025/26 financial year. This will not impact any decisions on pay awards for 2025/26
- The recommendation of the Pay Review Body to include an intermediate step point in Bands 8a – 8d has also been agreed
Following a number of meetings with health unions over the last month the Department of Health has committed to funding the pay award. The British Dietetic Association (BDA) is not on the pay negotiating team itself but is able to access the discussions through the NI Trade Union Forum.
The Department of Health has indicated that this pay award will be implemented in two instalments. The first will be backdated to 1 June 2024, which is 10 months back pay, and it is intended that this will be paid by March 2025. The second instalment, the remaining two months, will be paid as early as possible, with arrangements being finalised no later than April 2025. If funding can be found in 2024/25 then it will be paid earlier.
Whilst we are frustrated at the amount of time it has taken to reach this position, we are pleased to have at last achieved pay parity with NHS workers in England and will be working alongside health unions in Northern Ireland to press for earlier implementation of the pay award in 2025/26.
Since pay review bodies are a form of arbitration, resulting in an award rather than an offer, we are not consulting members on acceptance. However, we would still like to know our Northern Ireland members' views, to ensure we are best representing your interests regarding pay and terms and conditions. You have been emailed but members can also access the survey below.
The survey is open to members only. Please log in to view the link.
