Pay offer hope to end NHS chaos: Ministers consider new proposal that could ... trends now
Ministers are considering a new offer to health workers in a bid to head off NHS strikes next week.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay is set to hold a new round of talks with union leaders in the coming days ahead of planned strikes by nurses.
Whitehall sources said ministers were working on options for resolving the strikes, which could include a one-off payment to reflect cost of living pressures.
One source said there was a recognition that union leaders ‘have to get something for this year’ before they will consider calling off the current wave of industrial action.
However, talks about what level of payment might be offered, and how it would be funded, remain at an early stage.
Whitehall sources said ministers were working on options for resolving the strikes, which could include a one-off payment to reflect cost of living pressures. Pictured: Kate Bell, newly appointed assistant of general secretary of Trades Union Congress, gives a solidarity speech to the emergency service workers on strike, Waterloo, London, January 11, 2023
Health Secretary Steve Barclay is set to hold a new round of talks with union leaders in the coming days ahead of planned strikes by nurses, January 10, 2023
No formal proposal has been put to the Treasury, and a Government source said there were no plans ‘at this time’ to provide extra funding, meaning ministers would have to secure efficiencies to pay for it.
There are also concerns that any payment to resolve the health dispute would set a precedent for other sectors facing industrial strife, including education and transport, potentially landing the taxpayer with a bill running into billions of pounds. The moves came as 25,000 ambulance workers staged a second day of walkouts yesterday, and unions warned they could boycott talks on the next pay round, due in April.
Fourteen unions representing more than a million health staff said yesterday that they would not be submitting evidence to the independent NHS pay review body for the next wage round while the current disputes remain unresolved.
Sara Gorton, of Unison, said: ‘The pay review body process doesn’t fit the current context. The NHS staffing crisis is so acute only prompt action on pay, both for this and the next financial
