Unison members accept Scottish government pay offer

The pay offer was made to NHS staff, including nurses, midwives and paramedics

Members of Scotland's largest NHS union, Unison, have voted to accept the Scottish government's pay offer.

In a digital ballot where 54% of eligible members voted, 78.5% accepted the offer.

Another union, GMB Scotland, accepted it earlier in the week after 59.7% of balloted members agreed to the deal.

The pay deal - which was made to 160,000 NHS staff, including nurses, midwives and paramedics - equates to an average 6.5% increase in 2023/24.

It also includes the commitment to modernising Agenda for Change (AfC), which is nearly 20 years old, to support workforce recruitment, sustainability and retention.

AfC is the main pay system for staff in the NHS, excluding doctors, dentists and senior managers.

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Unison Scotland's health committee chairwoman Wilma Brown said: "While acceptance of this pay offer removes the spectre of industrial action, there is no room for complacency.

"This deal does nothing to solve the NHS Scotland staffing crisis.

"Government commitments to review the working week, deliver fair wage rises on promotion and tackle the workforce crisis must make rapid progress."

She added that it must also be backed up with new money to ensure patients and staff got the NHS they deserved.

The union's head of health Matt Mclaughlin said: "This deal was agreed after intensive talks between the government, unions and employers.

"There's now a need to get back around the table to sort out the staffing crisis in Scotland's NHS."

He added that patients were waiting too long for routine operations and staff were working under unacceptably stressful conditions.

"Unison has agreed to go straight back into talks with the government to review nursing, reduce staff vacancies and look again at NHS pay structures," Mr Mclaughlin said.

"The NHS needs to be made fit for purpose so staff can provide a world-class service."