The NHS pay deal 2022. How does it affect you?
By Gemma Raw
In August, the government announced the 2022-23 Agenda for Change pay settlement for NHS staff. How does it affect the basic pay of the different professionals working for the NHS?
The NHS pay rise 2022
With a cost of living crisis and high levels of inflation, pay rises in all industries are coming under the spotlight. For most of those working for the NHS, the government's acceptance in full of the independent NHS pay review body will have come as welcome news. However, as ever the devil is in the detail. Some sections of the workforce, for example hospital consultants, have benefitted disproportionately to others, such as nurses and clinical support workers. It's also important to view the NHS pay rise 2022 in the context of actual pay rates, rather than the underlying salary frameworks.
The basics of the NHS pay deal
Hospital consultants and salaried GPs were awarded a 4.5% increase on their pay framework. However, most junior doctors (doctors-in-training) were excluded from this deal because they had already agreed a settlement of 2%, which of course was negotiated against a very different economic backdrop.
Most of the NHS staff employed in hospital and community roles on the Agenda for Change contract have benefited from a flat rate pay rise of £1,400, backdated to April 2022. This includes nurses, midwives and paramedics.
How does the NHS pay deal affect basic pay?
The lowest earners in the NHS, such as porters and cleaners, have seen a 9.3% increase in their basic pay this year, compared with last year. The average basic pay for nurses has increased from around £35,600 as of March 2022 to around £37,000 and the basic pay for newly qualified nurses has increased by 5.5%, from £25,655 last year to £27,055.
However, the Nuffield Trust has pointed out that, under the Agenda for Change contract, some NHS staff are due pay progression uplifts anyway, based on their years of service. The Nuffield Trust's analysis shows that around one in seven staff on Agenda for Change are due an annual increment of between 5% and 17% this year. When this is factored in, the average increase for existing staff is estimated to be 6.4%, as opposed to 5.2%.
Real-terms pay cut
With inflation at levels not seen since the 1980s, the pay settlement still represents a real-terms pay cut for most people working in NHS jobs, including nurses and midwives. Research by London Economics, commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), found that, based on a five-day week, the salary of an experienced nurse has fallen by 20% in real terms since 2010.
"Expecting nursing staff to work one day a week for free is totally unacceptable," said RCN General Secretary & Chief Executive Pat Cullen. "Patients deserve better from their politicians. Despite nursing staff working increasingly long hours and doing all they can, safe and effective care is being undermined by the failure of governments to act."
Find out more about the NHS, such as how the NHS is funded and how many patients are treated by the NHS.
