The government is set to clash with unions after ministers recommended a 2.8% pay rise for teachers, NHS staff and other public sector workers next year.
Government departments said they had budgeted for the increase, but unions argued the recommended increase would be insufficient given the rise in the cost of living.
Wage review bodies will make the final recommendations, but in written evidence the government said it believed 2.8% was sufficient to set aside.
The National Education Union said it was “drawing to the government’s attention” that this was not enough, while Unite, one of Labour’s biggest donors, called the offer to NHS staff “an insult”.
The unions’ anger came after the government resolved a number of long-running public sector pay disputes that had led to strikes under previous Conservative governments.
In written evidence to the NHS pay review body, the Department of Health said the 2.8% for nurses, doctors and other NHS staff next year was seen as “a reasonable amount to be set aside based on the macroeconomic data and forecasts and taking into account the budgetary and labor market context”.
The Royal College of Nursing slammed the proposal as a “highly offensive” amount that offered nurses a pay rise worth “just an extra £2 a day, less than the price of a cup of coffee”.
Prof. Nicola Ranger, general secretary and chief executive of RCN, warned that nurses could go on strike again in search of a better deal, as they did in late 2022 and early 2023. “Let’s open direct conversations now and prevent further escalation into disputes and ballots. I said that directly to the government today,” she said.
The main measure of inflation, the consumer price index, is expected to be around 2.3% next year, but the RCN highlighted that the consumer price index, which includes housing costs, is expected to be 3.5%.
Unite criticized the offer as “an insult to dedicated NHS staff” and further evidence that the NHS Pay Review Body – which health unions claim is too close to the government – was unfit for purpose.
Significantly, NHS Employers, which represents healthcare funds in England in pay negotiations, warned that continued frustration among staff over their pay, and doctors getting bigger pay rises than other staff this year, could trigger a new wave of strikes.
It told the pay review body and its equivalent that helps set doctors’ and dentists’ wages: “Employers … are concerned that continued dissatisfaction and divergent pay agreements could lead to further industrial action, hampering progress in rebuilding relationships, financial stability and reducing waiting would be hampered. lists.”
The British Medical Association said the government showed a “poor understanding” of the outstanding issues after two years of industrial action and urged the pay review body to demonstrate it was now “truly independent”.
Chairman of the council, Prof. Philip Banfield, said: “It is well below the current rate of inflation that doctors experience in their daily lives and does not come significantly closer to restoring the relative value of doctors’ salaries that have been lost over the past fifteen years . ”
In her contribution to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the proposed 2025-2026 award would “maintain the competitiveness of teacher salaries, despite the challenging financial backdrop facing the government”.
But Daniel Kebede, secretary general of the National Education Union (NEU), whose members went on strike under the previous government to fight for better wages, said these were “well short” of what was needed.
“NEU members have been fighting to secure the 2023 and 2024 pay increases. We will inform the government of this. Our members care deeply about education and feel the depth of the crisis. This won’t work.”
Unions are particularly outraged by the government’s assumption that schools will foot the bill for wage increases from already overstretched budgets. In its evidence to the STRB, the Department for Education acknowledged that most schools would need to make efficiency savings to cover the 2.8% premium.
Kebede said: “Teacher salaries have been cut by more than a fifth in real terms since 2010, damaging teachers’ living standards and the competitiveness of teaching vis-à-vis other graduate professions.
“Together with skyrocketing workloads, pay cuts have resulted in a devastating recruitment and retention crisis. The teacher shortage throughout the school system also affects students and parents. An increase of 2.8% is likely to be below inflation and behind wage increases in the broader economy. This will only deepen the crisis in education.”
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The inadequacy of the proposed award is further compounded by the government’s intention that schools should foot the bill from their existing allocations.
“Given that per-apprentice funding will increase by less than 1% on average next year, and the government’s proposal is for an unfunded wage allowance of 2.8%, it is clear that this is in fact heralding further cuts in the number of schools.”