London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jan 26, 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
Trump Claims “Total” U.S. Access to Greenland as NATO Weighs Arctic Basing Rights and Deterrence
Air France and KLM Suspend Multiple Middle East Routes as Regional Tensions Disrupt Aviation
U.S. winter storm triggers 13,000-plus flight cancellations and 160,000 power outages
Poland delays euro adoption as Domański cites $1tn economy and zloty advantage
White House: Trump warns Canada of 100% tariff if Carney finalizes China trade deal
PLA opens CMC probe of Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli over Xi authority and discipline violations
ICE and DHS immigration raids in Minneapolis: the use-of-force accountability crisis in mass deportation enforcement
UK’s Starmer and Trump Agree on Urgent Need to Bolster Arctic Security
Starmer Breaks Diplomatic Restraint With Firm Rebuke of Trump, Seizing Chance to Advocate for Europe
UK Finance Minister Reeves to Join Starmer on China Visit to Bolster Trade and Economic Ties
Prince Harry Says Sacrifices of NATO Forces in Afghanistan Deserve ‘Respect’ After Trump Remarks
Barron Trump Emerges as Key Remote Witness in UK Assault and Rape Trial
Nigel Farage Attended Davos 2026 Using HP Trust Delegate Pass Linked to Sasan Ghandehari
Gold Jumps More Than 8% in a Week as the Dollar Slides Amid Greenland Tariff Dispute
BlackRock Executive Rick Rieder Emerges as Leading Contender to Succeed Jerome Powell as Fed Chair
Boston Dynamics Atlas humanoid robot and LG CLOiD home robot: the platform lock-in fight to control Physical AI
United States under President Donald Trump completes withdrawal from the World Health Organization: health sovereignty versus global outbreak early-warning access
FBI and U.S. prosecutors vs Ryan Wedding’s transnational cocaine-smuggling network: the fight over witness-killing and cross-border enforcement
Trump Administration’s Iran Military Buildup and Sanctions Campaign Puts Deterrence Credibility on the Line
Apple and OpenAI Chase Screenless AI Wearables as the Post-iPhone Interface Battle Heats Up
Tech Brief: AI Compute, Chips, and Platform Power Moves Driving Today’s Market Narrative
NATO’s Stress Test Under Trump: Alliance Credibility, Burden-Sharing, and the Fight Over Strategic Territory
OpenAI’s Money Problem: Explosive Growth, Even Faster Costs, and a Race to Stay Ahead
Trump Reverses Course and Criticises UK-Mauritius Chagos Islands Agreement
Elizabeth Hurley Tells UK Court of ‘Brutal’ Invasion of Privacy in Phone Hacking Case
UK Bond Yields Climb as Report Fuels Speculation Over Andy Burnham’s Return to Parliament
America’s Venezuela Oil Grip Meets China’s Demand: Market Power, Legal Shockwaves, and the New Rules of Energy Leverage
TikTok’s U.S. Escape Plan: National Security Firewall or Political Theater With a Price Tag?
Trump’s Board of Peace: Breakthrough Diplomacy or a Hostile Takeover of Global Order?
Trump’s Board of Peace: Breakthrough Diplomacy or a Hostile Takeover of Global Order?
The Greenland Gambit: Economic Genius or Political Farce?
The Greenland Gambit: Economic Genius or Political Farce?
The Greenland Gambit: Economic Genius or Political Farce?
Will AI Finally Make Blue-Collar Workers Rich—or Is This Just Elite Tech Spin?
Prince William to Make Official Visit to Saudi Arabia in February
Prince Harry Breaks Down in London Court, Says UK Tabloids Have Made Meghan Markle’s Life ‘Absolute Misery’
Malin + Goetz UK Business Enters Administration, All Stores Close
EU and UK Reject Trump’s Greenland-Linked Tariff Threats and Pledge Unified Response
UK Deepfake Crackdown Puts Intense Pressure on Musk’s Grok AI After Surge in Non-Consensual Explicit Images
Prince Harry Becomes Emotional in London Court, Invokes Memory of Princess Diana in Testimony Against UK Tabloids
UK Inflation Rises Unexpectedly but Interest Rate Cuts Still Seen as Likely
AI vs Work: The Battle Over Who Controls the Future of Labor
Buying an Ally’s Territory: Strategic Genius or Geopolitical Breakdown?
AI Everywhere: Power, Money, War, and the Race to Control the Future
Trump vs the World Order: Disruption Genius or Global Arsonist?
Trump vs the World Order: Disruption Genius or Global Arsonist?
Trump vs the World Order: Disruption Genius or Global Arsonist?
Trump vs the World Order: Disruption Genius or Global Arsonist?
Arctic Power Grab: Security Chessboard or Climate Crime Scene?
Starmer Steps Back from Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Amid Strained US–UK Relations
×