Pay review body snubbed

Fourteen health unions representing more than a million ambulance staff, nurses, porters, healthcare assistants, physiotherapists and other health workers in England have announced they will not submit joint evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body for the next wage round while the current industrial disputes remain unresolved.

They called instead for direct pay talks with ministers.

Unite says the future of the pay review body is unresolved beyond 2023-24 and believes the body is no longer fit for purpose and should be abolished.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the review body “is long past its sell-by date.

“It’s no longer independent of government and it doesn’t have powers to make major decisions about pay. So what is the point of it?”

It has presided over more than a decade of real wage cuts for almost all NHS staff and “been a smokescreen which has allowed government to drive the NHS to the point of collapse”, Graham added.

Elaine Sparkes, the NHS union group secretary and CSP physiotherapists’ union assistant director of employment relations, said the review body process is too slow.

“Speed is of the essence, as is ensuring wages are high enough for the NHS to retain experienced staff and attract new recruits,” she said.

“Only direct talks can achieve that.”