More than 1.4 million NHS workers to receive 3.3% pay rise from April

More than 1.4 million NHS workers will receive a 3.3% pay rise from April, the Government has announced.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the uplift was above the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast inflation of 2.2% for 2026-27, delivering a “real terms pay rise” for NHS staff.

But health unions criticised the increase. Unison’s head of health Helga Pile said: “Hard-pressed NHS staff will be downright angry at another below-inflation pay award.”

Mr Streeting said the increase will be in pay packets from April for the first time in six years.

“We have listened to the workforce and understand the difficulties they face when pay awards are not delivered on time,” he said.

“That’s why this Government committed to speeding up the pay review process, remitting the pay review bodies months earlier than previous years, and submitting written evidence earlier too.

“In making this award, I am accepting in full the recommendation from the NHS Pay Review Body.”

Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary said: “GMB welcomes the efforts made to ensure NHS workers will receive their pay increase when it is due, in April.

“The first time this will have happened in years, but this award is just not enough to make up for more than a decade of pay cuts under the Tories.

“NHS workers deserve more and GMB will fight for that at the long overdue agenda for change structural talks we have now been promised.

“GMB reps will now meet to discuss the pay award and determine next steps.”

Speaking of NHS workers, Ms Pile added: “Yet again, they’re expected to keep delivering more while effectively being given less, as pay slides behind living costs. Having an increase on time for once is only small comfort.

“For thousands at the bottom of the salary scale in England, half their increase has gone on bringing their hourly pay rate up to the legal minimum.

“Ambitions to make the NHS the ‘country’s best employer’ are doomed to fail if it can’t even compete with high street supermarkets whose staff are on at least the real living wage.”

Jim Fahie, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s assistant director for employment relations, warned the UK Government the award would fall short of members’ expectations.

“It is less than last year’s award and lower than the current rate of inflation, so is a real-terms pay cut and makes absolutely no ground on restoration,” he said.

“This comes at a time when our members are working ever harder due to chronic staff shortages and huge waiting lists.”

Gill Walton, Royal College of Midwives general secretary, said: “The Government has let down midwives and maternity support workers yet again, after months of promises from the Health Secretary that he would invest in maternity services and keep them safe.

“Without fixing the unfair pay system, this real-terms pay cut is an insult to midwives who work 100,000 unpaid hours every week just to keep maternity services running.

“Our members are sick and tired of these broken promises to sort out pay and staffing and their anger is justified.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It beggars belief that a Labour Government should seek to ride roughshod over the health unions when deciding on NHS pay. For too long, NHS workers have been overworked, under paid and under valued.

“Today’s announcement will simply increase the problems of low pay that has seen thousands of healthcare workers leave, worsening the recruitment and retention crisis in our NHS”

Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said: “A pay award below the current level of inflation is an insult. Unless inflation falls, the Government is forcing a very real pay cut on its NHS workers. This knife-edge gameplaying is no way to treat people who prop-up a system in crisis.

“We will compare and contrast this announcement with the awards for the rest of the NHS and the public sector as a whole before deciding a way forward. Nursing staff will not tolerate the disrespect of other years, when we were bottom of the pile.

“Unions were misled to expect direct negotiations with Government on the pay award, but NHS staff are getting the same poor treatment as before.

“Yesterday’s positive step forward on career progression shows what can be achieved when ministers collaborate.

“The RCN and almost all other unions withdrew from the Pay Review Body because it is not fit for purpose and fails nursing staff.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This Government hugely appreciates the incredible work of talented staff across our NHS, which is why we have agreed to work with the NHS Staff Council and invest in reforming the Agenda for Change pay structure, and to prioritise increasing pay for graduates and the lowest paid members of staff.

“Alongside these imminent talks, we have accepted the pay recommendation from the independent NHS Pay Review Body as part of this package on pay to deliver an above forecast inflation pay increase for the third consecutive year to 1.4 million NHS staff, including nurses, paramedics, midwives and hospital porters.

“This pay boost will be in pay packets from the start of April for the first time in six years, demonstrating our commitment to getting money into the pockets of NHS staff in a timely fashion.”

Dean Royles, interim chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “This early acceptance by the Government of the Pay Review Bodies’ recommendations will ensure that for the first time in many years, all NHS Agenda for Change staff will receive their annual pay uplift at the very start of the pay year in April.

“In previous years it has been as late as September or October, so this will be welcomed by many. A fair and timely award is also essential for retaining experienced colleagues and attracting new talent into the NHS.

“However, NHS employers continue to navigate an increasingly challenging financial environment while maintaining high-quality patient care. NHS Trusts are right now in the midst of submitting their medium-term financial, service and workforce plans.

“They will have prepared for the award being less than the 3.3% that has been announced, so it is essential that the funding of the award is clarified as soon as possible.”

The Society of Radiographers, the only union to submit evidence to the Pay Review Body, said it was pleased the body had listened to some of its recommendations around low pay and graduate starting pay, but added there was work still to do.

Dean Rogers, the society’s executive director of industrial strategy, said: “The gap between NHS pay and average earnings continues to grow, further undermining morale, recruitment and retention in radiography.

“A 3.3% pay increase is unlikely to improve this situation, or even come close to narrowing the pay gap.

“This is not a sustainable strategy if the Government is serious about having a positive workforce plan for the NHS.”

Shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew said the Government had left the NHS “underfunded and struggling to meet demand” by “failing to prioritise growth”.

He said: “Starmer and Reeves have dragged their feet instead of taking the tough economic decisions needed to restore stability, leaving the NHS to operate with stretched budgets while staff are overworked and patients wait longer.

“It is hardly surprising, as the Health Secretary himself has said his own Government doesn’t have a growth strategy.”