Most of the Agenda for Change trade unions have withdrawn from this year’s pay review process and instead urged the government to hold direct pay talks, writes HSJ.
They have cited widespread dissatisfaction with the independent NHS Pay Review Body and called on Wes Streeting to honour promises made last year to reform its structure.
All but one of the 14 unions – the Society of Radiographers – yesterday announced their withdrawal from this year’s pay review process.
Unions say discontent with the 2025 pay award, and a lack of progress on reform, has “heightened industrial tension”. More than 1 million staff on AfC received a 3.6 per cent pay rise this year, backdated to April, but it now represents a real-terms pay cut as inflation is at 3.8 per cent, according to the consumer price index.
In a letter to the health and social care secretary after the 2026-27 round commenced in July they said: “Far from being what the government claimed to be an ‘above-inflation award’, it is in fact a real-terms cut as things stand.
“This has done nothing to boost workforce morale or generate the goodwill needed to deliver the government’s much-needed NHS recovery plan.”
Date: 23 September