After months of waiting RCM members working in the NHS Scotland have finally been offered an overdue pay increase.
On the 19 August Scotland’s Health Minister Neil Gray announced the offer of a consolidated increase of 5.5% for all Agenda for Change (AFC) staff. This will be backdated to 1 April 2024.
It was also confirmed that there would be no additional pay and reward factors or non-pay elements to the offer.
Background
The current position for NHS Pay in Scotland is that this will be negotiated with Trade Unions through collective bargaining.
Previous pay awards for 2022/23 and 2023/24 concluded as follows:
In summary 2022/23 saw an overall average uplift of 7.5% and 2023/24 saw, most staff receiving a consolidated uplift of 6.5%, with a floor of £1,548 and a cap of £3,755. Alongside the 2023/24 uplift, agreements were also reached to implement a reduced working week (36 hours), band 5/6 nurse review and protected learning time.
The Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC) is a partnership organisation which exists to collectively negotiate terms and conditions issues for NHS Scotland staff. It is made up of officials appointed from the Scottish Government Health Workforce Directorate, employers and trade unions.
STAC trade unions submitted a joint pay claim for Agenda for Change (AfC) staff to the then Cabinet Secretary on the 6th of February 2024. The submission can be found here.
In summary the call for negotiations aimed to secure:
- An offer in which NHS AfC pay is uplifted by a cost of living element which fairly rewards our members in the current financial climate and seeks to resolve historic erosion of their pay,
- A robust fully funded proposal to deliver on the areas of consensus previously identified in the AfC Pay Modernisation paper; which does not divert funding from the core pay quantum, during the lifetime of any implementation phase,
- A commitment to further discuss those areas of AfC pay modernisation where consensus could not be reached.
Consultation
The pay offer is above inflation which in part addresses the historic erosion of pay faced by our members. It is also a consolidated across the board increase to all AfC pay bands. However, the offer does not address the request to deliver on any of the pay modernisation elements as noted in the staff-side pay claim. This is something that we would expect to see carried over to the next staff-side pay claim.
As the offer does not meet the asks in all areas of the pay claim submitted the RCM Board agreed that we should not make any recommendation to members. However, the RCM believe that this is the best offer that can be achieved via negotiations.
We now want to hear your views on the pay offer. Our consultation will open on 28 August. It will run for three weeks and finish on 18 September.
You can have your say by click this link.
For more details or if you are a member in Scotland with any questions, please email paycampaign@rcm.org.uk.
FAQs
We have developed these FAQs to help you understand what this offer means for you. These FAQ’s will be updated with more information, should we receive it.
The headline offer is above inflation which in part addresses the historic erosion of pay faced by our members. It is also a consolidated across the board increase to all Agenda for Change (AFC) pay bands.
The offer does not address the request to deliver on any of the pay modernisation elements as noted in the staff side pay claim.
As the offer does not meet the asks in all areas of the pay claim submitted the RCM Board agreed that the consultation should not make any recommendation to members. However, the RCM believe that this is the best offer that can be achieved via negotiations.
If RCM members vote to reject the offer, this would place us in a position of dispute, however we cannot predict whether the government would then choose to impose the offer. We would need to consider whether to further consult with members to assess if industrial action would be a possible next step.
NHS AFC staff are represented by a number of Trade Unions who will also be consulting their members on the offer. Each Trade Union will share the results of their consultations on 23 September, at which time any consensus will be assessed to inform the response to the government.
The Scottish Government has asked that the Trade Union’s conclude their consultations and respond to the offer by 23 September, to enable sufficient time to progress pay of the award in October Salaries with a view to any backpay being paid in November. This is subject to the award being accepted.
You can find all the new pay scales based on the offer by visiting the Scottish Government’s Website here.
Some other public sector workers are covered by separate arrangements or pay review bodies, this includes, teachers, some civil servants, police and armed forces. The Government has also said it will accept the recommendations of those review bodies who operate on a UK wide basis. The awards range from 4.75%-6%.
The RCM’s focus is on Agenda for Change pay, terms and conditions.
The below figures are the most recent published figures and are for July 2024:
- CPI: 2.2%
- CPIH: 3.1%
- RPI: 3.6%
Inflation is the term used to describe rising prices, how quickly these prices go up is called the rate of inflation. All of the measures of inflation above do this but in slightly different ways. The rate of inflation cited by the Government is CPI but traditionally trade unions have argued that RPI inflation is the most appropriate as it includes housing and related costs.
The Scottish Public Pensions Agency have confirmed that the pension contribution tier bandings will increase in line with the 2024-25 AFC pay award. However, until the pay award is agreed the tier bandings will remain based on the 2023-34 pay award.