The Scottish Government has announced a two-year pay offer for NHS nurses on Agenda for Change following negotiations with health unions.
The offer comprises a 4.25% uplift from 1 April 2025 and an increase of 3.75% from 1 April 2026.
Ministers have also proposed an ‘inflation guarantee’ that would ensure the increase in pay each year is a minimum of one percentage point higher than the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate for the year.
In total, the Scottish Government said it had committed to a financial envelope of £701m for Agenda for Change pay in years 2025/26 and 2026/27.
If accepted by trade unions, it will mean almost 170,000 NHS Agenda for Change staff in Scotland will benefit from the pay rise which will be backdated to 1 April 2025.
Health secretary Neil Gray said: ‘This is a strong two-year pay offer that has been agreed following constructive engagement with trade union representatives.
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‘It is guaranteed to remain above CPI inflation, which gives added reassurance to staff, and will ensure Scotland’s nurses, midwives and NHS staff have the best pay in the UK.’
He added: ‘I want to express my thanks again to Scotland’s hardworking healthcare staff for their continued hard work and commitment.
‘The unions will now consult their members and I hope this offer will be accepted.’
Royal College of Nursing Scotland director Colin Poolman noted the delay in getting the offer on the table and said board members were currently considering the proposals ‘in detail’.
‘It has taken months of pressure from the RCN and other health trade unions to get to this point and yet again the Scottish Government’s failure to commence discussions earlier means the April pay anniversary has been missed,’ he said.
‘Nursing staff are rightly frustrated that the Scottish Government has kept them waiting while the cost of living continues to increase.’
He added: ‘Our pay claim, submitted in January, called for an offer that reflects increases in living costs and begins to address the historic erosion of pay.
‘RCN Scotland Board members are considering the Scottish government’s offer in detail.
‘Nursing staff are the ever-present, safety critical workforce across the whole of health and care.
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‘Fair pay is vital to recruiting and retaining nursing staff, to filling the thousands of vacant nursing jobs and giving people the care they deserve.’
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said today’s news would leave colleagues in England, Wales and Northern Ireland ‘feeling more than a little envious’.
‘Talks with Scottish ministers have delivered a serious wage offer for NHS staff north of the border,’ she said.
‘Their English colleagues, and health workers in Wales and Northern Ireland, will understandably be feeling more than a little envious.’
She added: ‘Scottish health workers already earn more each hour. Now they could get this year’s wage rise before everyone else too.
‘Meanwhile across the rest of the UK, the wait goes on. NHS staff were due a wage boost a week ago, but since then they’ve not heard a peep from ministers.’
Ms McAnea criticised the Westminster government for continuing to wait on the ‘painfully slow’ NHS Pay Review Body process before announcing this year’s pay increase.
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‘Governments in London, Cardiff and Belfast should have taken up the offer of pay talks with unions when they had the chance,’ she said.
‘Ministers should take a leaf out of the Scottish Government’s book and get moving with this year’s NHS pay rise.’
Last week, the RCN, Unison and Unite all condemned delays to the NHS pay uplift in England, which should have been implemented for the start of the new financial year today.
