NHS nurses and healthcare staff offered 5.5% pay rise

The Royal College of Nursing is one of the unions considering the pay offer

NHS nurses and healthcare staff across Scotland have been offered a 5.5% pay rise after what unions described as "months of pressure" to get a new deal.

Almost 170,000 staff - including midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals and porters - would get the pay increase for 2024-25, backdated to April.

The proposed deal is expected to cost £448m and is in line with an offer made to NHS workers in England.

The Scottish government said the offer, if accepted by unions, would ensure they have the best NHS pay package in the UK.

Doctors are not included in the deal becuase they negotiate their pay separately.

Colin Poolman, director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Scotland, said staff were "rightly frustrated" that the Scottish government had "kept them waiting while the cost of living has continued to increase".

The RCN is now among the unions representing Agenda for Change staff that are considering the pay offer.

However, Mr Poolman said it had "taken months of pressure from the RCN and other health trade unions" for the Scottish government to make a pay offer.

He added: "Our pay claim, submitted in February, called for an offer that reflects increases in living costs and begins to address the historic erosion of pay.

"Our members will decide if today's announcement is enough. That process begins with RCN Scotland board members looking at the offer in detail."

The RCN Scotland director stressed: "Nursing staff are the ever-present, safety critical workforce across the whole of health and care.

"Our wages do not reflect this and still won't after today. Fair pay is vital to recruiting and retaining nursing staff, to filling the thousands of vacant nurse jobs and giving people the care they deserve."

'Dithering on pay affects morale'

Unison said it would also consider the offer, although Matt McLaughlin, who leads for the union on NHS pay, said: "It's a shame it's taken this long for NHS staff in Scotland to receive a pay offer.

"Finally, workers will have the opportunity to decide whether to accept or reject the proposed raise, which is in line with wage lifts in many other parts of the UK."

He added: "NHS staff were due a pay rise five months ago, and making them wait for so long is deeply unfair.

"This delay cannot be repeated at the next pay round. The Scottish government must recognise that dithering on pay directly affects staff morale."

Scottish government ministers have previously said they are proud that Scotland is the only nation in the UK to have avoided NHS strike action

Despite avoiding the disruption of strikes, the latest data showed NHS waiting lists in Scotland had reached a record size at the end of March, with 690,000 waits for planned outpatient or inpatient care.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said healthcare staff were the backbone of the NHS

The Scottish government wanted to build 10 new National Treatment Centres to tackle the NHS backlog by delivering an extra 40,000 procedures a year, but spending has been paused with only three open, and two more scheduled to open this year.

The Nuffield Trust found earlier this year that the number of people going private for hospital treatment had risen 80% since 2019.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said he hoped the unions would accept the offer.

“Following weeks of constructive engagement with trade union representatives, I am pleased to have agreed an offer, in recognition of the Pay Review Body recommendations, that will ensure Scotland’s nurses and NHS staff have the best pay package in the UK," he said.

“I want to express my thanks again to Scotland’s hardworking healthcare staff for their commitment and patience – they are the very backbone of the NHS and we are committed to supporting them, particularly during a cost of living crisis."

He added: "I am grateful for the continued efforts around the table and that the trade unions will now put this to their members.”