The Government have announced a £1,400 pay award for most NHS staff in England. While the award varies considerably in percentage terms depending which pay band staff are in, it means yet another real terms pay cut for the vast majority of NHS staff.

With inflation running at over 9%, the highest level in a generation, MiP members are set to lose 6% or more off their salaries this year.

The Department for Health and Social Care have also told NHS bosses to part-fund the award from existing budgets, imposing another one billion pound squeeze on already hard-pressed NHS services.

Commenting on the pay award, MiP chief executive Jon Restell said:

“Ministers can dress this pay award up however they like, but the reality is it’s another real terms cut for our members alongside the overwhelming majority of the NHS workforce.

“Despite all the efforts of health workers and the extreme pressure on them over the past two years, they’re still worse off than before the pandemic started.

“Fair pay isn’t just some moral pursuit, it’s essential to get to grips with the current staffing crisis. The NHS is carrying over 100,000 vacancies at all levels. Failure to fill these jobs results in longer waiting lists, delays and cancellations for patients.

“Telling the NHS to find over a billion pounds to fund this award is simply unworkable when the health service faces the biggest demand for care in its history. It leaves managers with impossible decisions on how to prioritise budgets, and ultimately damages the quality of NHS care.

“The Government had the chance to today to stop a further exodus of NHS staff. Instead they’ve all but guaranteed it. We will ask our members how they want to respond to this paltry award in a ballot over the summer.”

The announcement of the 2022-23 pay award follows the recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body and applies to all NHS staff on Agenda for Change in England. The award will be backdated to April 2022. Announcements on pay awards for very senior managers, doctors and dentists will be made separately.