The independent pay review bodies for nurses and doctors have been asked by the government to deliver their recommendations ‘at the earliest point’ to help speed up pay awards for the next financial year.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting has this week sent letters to the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) and the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) to commence the next pay round.
NHS nurses on Agenda for Change contracts are included within the scope of the NHSPRB, while GPs are covered within the DDRB.
In recent years, practices have been asked to pass on the pay awards given to GPs to practice nurses, though funding constraints have meant this has not happened across the board.
In his letters, Mr Streeting said the government’s ‘intention is to announce pay awards as close to the start of the pay year of 1 April as possible for 2025 to 2026’.
This year recommendations from both the NHSPRB and DDRB were published at the end of July, with payments backdated to April.
In England, the government accepted a 6% pay rise for GPs – to be also passed onto practice staff – and a 5.5% pay rise for NHS staff on Agenda for Change.
To support earlier pay review reports, Mr Streeting committed to publishing his department’s written evidence for 2025/26 ‘as soon as possible’ after the October Spending Review.
This evidence will cover the ‘recruitment and retention context alongside pay and earnings data’ as well as the ‘expected position’ after this year’s pay award and the department’s available funding.
‘We know that public sector workers delivering our vital public services deserve timely pay awards, so, as the Chancellor said in her July Statement, the government’s intention is to announce pay awards as close to the start of the pay year of 1 April as possible for 2025 to 2026,’ said Mr Streeting.
‘It is unfortunate that, given the knock-on effects from the previous government’s delays to the 2024 to 2025 round, it is unlikely that workforces will receive pay increases by April, but by bringing the pay round forwards this year, we can more fully reset the timeline in 2026 to 2027.’
He said he recognised that changing the timeline from recent years would ‘present challenges’ for the pay review bodies, but stressed the ‘importance of returning to more timely annual pay processes’.
This year, the NHS England has implemented the 6% DDRB pay rise recommendation for all GPs and said it expects this rise to be also given to general practice nurses. And it has uplifted the global sum by 7.4% to support this.
Separately, NHS nurses in England have been promised a 5.5% pay award for the current year – but members of the Royal College of Nursing have rejected it in a vote held by the college.
Responding to the NHSPRB letter, RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger reiterated concerns raised around the pay review process.
‘Our members need to see change – a significant reset in pay that demonstrates their value,’ she said.
‘In setting limits on the budget available for NHS pay, the government is attempting to override the independence of the PRB process once again.’
She added that it was ‘not acceptable that our members will receive a delayed pay rise for another consecutive year’.
Nursing in Practice has this month launched a GPN Pay and Workforce Survey – complete it here for a chance to win £100 worth of vouchers.
A version of this article was first published by our sister title, Pulse
