London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 14, 2026

NHS pay deal signed off for one million staff

NHS pay deal signed off for one million staff

More than a million NHS staff in England are to receive a 5% pay rise, after health unions backed the deal.

Staff including ambulance workers, nurses, physios and porters will also get a one-off sum of at least £1,655.

The pay deal was signed off at a meeting between the government and 14 health unions representing all NHS staff apart from doctors and dentists.

Ministers said it was time to bring the strikes to an end - but three unions are threatening to continue action.

However, only one - Unite - currently has a strike mandate and that is for local strikes in some ambulance services and a few hospitals.


'Missing out'


Unison head of health Sara Gorton, who chairs the joint NHS union group, said: "NHS workers will now want the pay rise they've voted to accept.

"The hope is that the one-off payment and salary increase will be in June's pay packets."

But Ms Gorton said health staff should not have needed to strike on such a scale - nurses, physiotherapists and ambulance staff have all taken strike action since December.

"Proper pay talks last autumn could have stopped health workers missing out on money they could ill afford to lose," she said.

"The NHS and patients would also have been spared months of disruption."


'Fair outcome'


Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he was pleased the offer, proposed in March, had been accepted by the unions after members had voted on it.

"Where some unions may choose to remain in dispute, we hope their members - many of whom voted to accept this offer - will recognise this as a fair outcome that carries the support of their colleagues and decide it is time to bring industrial action to an end.

"We will continue to engage constructively with unions on workforce changes to ensure the NHS is the best place to work for staff, patients and taxpayers."

Despite some of the unions rejecting the offer, the deal was agreed after a majority backed it as a result of the support of some of the biggest unions in the NHS, such as Unison, the GMB and those representing physiotherapists and midwives.

All staff will now receive the extra pay.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), one of the unions that rejected the offer, has warned it will continue to pursue strike action.

But it needs to hold another ballot of its members, as its six-month mandate expired at the end of Monday, when its latest walkout ended.


RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said the union would start balloting in the coming weeks.

In a letter to Mr Barclay, she said while she "entirely respected" the other unions who had voted to accept, she would continue to fight for her members, who voted to reject the offer despite the RCN leadership recommending it to them.

"Nursing is the largest part of the NHS workforce and they require an offer that matches their true value," she added.

Unlike last time, the RCN is holding a national ballot rather than a series of local workplaces ones.

That means it will be harder to win a strike mandate - something dubbed an "all or nothing" approach, in one last attempt to persuade ministers to return to the negotiating table.


Pay claim


The health secretary also met the British Medical Association on Tuesday to see if the two sides could agree a way forward in the junior doctors' pay dispute.

They are on a different contract so not affected by the agreement reached with the other NHS staff.

The BMA wants a 35% rise, to make up for 15 years of below-inflation wage increases.

Junior doctors have held two strikes so far. Mr Barclay has said the pay claim is unaffordable.

A government spokesman said the discussion was "constructive" and both parties would meet again in the coming days.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Condemns Houthi Actions and Warns of Red Sea Threat to Global Trade
UK and Solomon Islands Open Wildlife Photography Exhibition in Honiara
UK Small Businesses Face Continued Cash Flow and Tax Pressures
Greatham Marsh Restoration Restores Tidal Wetland in Hartlepool After More Than 200 Years
UK Health Regulator Urges University Students to Check Meningitis and Measles Vaccination Status
Mining Remediation Authority Completes Major Ground Stabilization Works in Scottish Community
UK Food Crime Investigators Seize 33 Tonnes of Illegal Food in Multi-Agency Operation
Technical Qualification Uptake Hits Record High as Advanced Mathematics Results Improve
UK Summer Temperatures on Course to Challenge Long-Standing Records, Met Office Says
UK Farmers Bring Forward Cereal Harvests as Drought Threatens Yields
Wildfires Surge Across England and Wales as Fire Chiefs Report Record July
UK Nurses Warn of Heat Risks as Hospital Staff Struggle With Extreme Temperatures
Southern Water Seeks Drought Order for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Amid Water Shortages
UK Heatwave Pushes West London Temperature to 38.1 Degrees as Health Alerts Continue
UK Economy Grows 0.4% in Second Quarter Despite Global Uncertainty
China’s Kimi Launches AI-Focused Credit Card With Agricultural Bank of China and American Express
UK Residents Gather to Watch Rare Partial Solar Eclipse
Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice Faces Criticism Over Legal Threat Against Guardian Journalist
Michael Forsyth Elected Speaker of the House of Lords
Cambridge Researchers Launch £20 Million Human Organoid Drug Testing Programme
Heathrow Loses European Passenger Traffic Lead to Istanbul Airport
Households Near New UK Electricity Pylons to Receive £250 Annual Energy Bill Discount
UK Government Estimates Zero-Hours Contract Ban Could Cost Employers Up to £3 Billion a Year
Robert Jenrick Leaves Conservatives for Reform UK in Major Parliamentary Defection
UK Police Chiefs Urge Government to Block Early Release of Andrew Harper Killers
UK Government Holds Emergency Cobra Meeting as Drought and Heatwave Raise Wildfire Risks
Former Labour Adviser Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for China Held Privileged Access as Top Party Donor
Turkish Parliament Passes Landmark Bill Granting Conditional Amnesty to Disarmed PKK Members
Donald Trump Warns FIFA Against Ousting Gianni Infantino Amid Revolt by Global Football Leaders
Jeff Bezos Joins Investor Group Closing In on $6 Billion Liverpool FC Stake
Police Conduct Cross-Border Raids Against Northern England Drug Network
Nicola Sturgeon Protested at Edinburgh Festival Fringe Event
Major UK Retail Chain Enters Administration With One Hundred Fifty-Four Stores Set to Close
Heathrow Renews Call for Runway Expansion After Losing Europe’s Busiest Airport Ranking
Government Condemns One Million Pound Thames Water Executive Bonus Amid Drought
NHS England Says More Than One Hundred Thousand Hepatitis C Patients Have Been Cured
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband Calls for End to West Bank Settler Violence
UK Prepares for Deepest Partial Solar Eclipse Since Nineteen Ninety-Nine
UK Heatwave Triggers Amber Health Alerts as Economic Losses Reach Four Point Four Billion Pounds
UK Offers Electricity Bill Discounts to Communities Hosting New Power Infrastructure
Bank of England Expected to Hold Interest Rates at Three Point Seven Five Percent
UK Government Moves to Ban Subscription Traps and Misleading Retail Discounts
Andy Burnham Gives Councils New Powers to Block Betting and Vape Shops
UK Councils to Receive Sweeping Planning Powers to Ban New Vape and Betting Shops
Nicola Sturgeon Says She Has No Contact With Estranged Husband After SNP Embezzlement Case
Police Arrest Two Men After Aberdeenshire Defense Technology Office Break-In
Greater Manchester Councils Gain Powers to Restrict New Vape and Betting Shops
Coroner Finds Treasury Workplace Failures Contributed to Personal Assistant’s Suicide
English and Welsh Courts Ban Meta Smart Glasses Over Recording and Privacy Risks
Strait of Hormuz Disruption Could Double UK Inflation and Trigger Recession, Forecasters Warn
×