NHS nurses in Wales receive 5.5% pay deal for 2024-25
The Welsh Government has announced an overdue pay rise for NHS nursing staff which mirrors what was agreed for their counterparts in England earlier this year.
Agenda for Change staff will receive a 5.5% increase to their salaries – following recommendations from the NHS Pay Review Body, first minister Eluned Morgan said this afternoon.
“We await more details on the wider aspects of this pay award”
Julie Richards
This pay deal covers the 2024-25 financial year and will be back paid to April, as it is five months late.
This brings Welsh nurses in line with their equivalents in England, for whom a pay deal worth 5.5% was announced at the end of July.
Further, the Welsh Government has said it would agree in principle to adding more pay points for Agenda for Change bands 8a and above, pending approval by the Welsh Partnership Forum, a group formed of representatives from the government, trade unions, NHS in Wales and professional organisations.
Ms Morgan, who formerly served as cabinet secretary for health and social care, announced this pay deal and others for workers across the public sector.
Teachers in Wales will receive a 5.5% pay award, doctors, GPs and dentists will receive 6%, with junior doctors getting an extra £1,000 flat payment, and further deals worth an “up to an average” of 5% have been agreed for civil servants and other public sector staff.
Ms Morgan added: “People across Wales have told us over the summer that public sector workers are the backbone of the services we all rely on – from the nurses in our NHS to teachers in classrooms across Wales.
“They want them to be fairly rewarded for the vital work they do. These pay awards reflect how we value them and respect their hard work.
“But the public has also been clear they want to see improvements in public services – especially in the NHS and education. We will work with these services to deliver on what people have told us over the summer listening exercise.”
The pay of most primary care staff, including general practice nurses, falls out of the direct remit of the Welsh Government, as it does in England for the UK Government. As a result, today’s pay deal does not cover primary care nursing staff.
However, Welsh cabinet secretary for health and social care Mark Drakeford said, in a written statement published this afternoon, that he wanted to see a “fair and proportionate pay uplift across primary care”.
To this end, Mr Drakeford said his office will enter negotiations with “representative bodies” over primary care contracts.
Responding to news of the Agenda for Change pay deal, Royal College of Midwives (RCM) director for Wales Julie Richards said it was a step towards addressing “the pay cuts our members have faced for far too long”.
RCM said it was “pleased” the 5.5% award would mean a pay rise above the rate of inflation for its members, and hoped it would help improve the retention of midwives.
Ms Richards added: “For far too long our hardworking midwives and [maternity support workers] across Wales have been left in limbo.
“We have told the government time and time again that this delay in announcing a pay increase has really eroded the morale of our hardworking members, making many feel undervalued.”
The union, however, said other issues relating to pay still needed addressing in Wales, such as the length of time it takes to progress up the Agenda for Change pay structure.
Ms Richards said: “We await more details on the wider aspects of this pay award, but going forward we want to work with the Welsh Government to improve a pay process that many staff have lost faith in.
“We must also tackle the issues within the Agenda for Change pay system too. We need to ensure it’s a fair pay system for all and that equal pay is given to work of equal value.”
The Royal College of Nursing is yet to comment on the announcement.
