Ministers have written to pay review bodies recommending a pay rise of 2.8% for public sector workers for 2025/26, prompting anger from unions and hints of future strike action.
The National Education Union said it was “putting the government on notice”, while the Unite union called the offer to NHS staff an “insult”.
Although pay review bodies make the final recommendations, the government compiles written evidence of how rises will be budgeted and what it believes it can afford.
Writing to the School Teachers’ Review Body, the Department for Education said it “recognises that high quality teaching is the factor within a school that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education”, and that it is committed to supporting teachers to stay in the profession and “thrive”.
Public sector pay
However, a “challenging economic picture” meant it could only offer a 2.8% pay award next year, it said.
The 2024/25 annual pay rise for public sector workers is 5.5%, announced in July.
In submitting its evidence to the pay review bodies, NHS Employers said: “Industrial action has seen significant disruption to services, with waiting lists growing for access to services and care, and additional cost pressures for employers across the NHS.
“Relationships across the system and with trade unions have been put under enormous strain and pressure. Resuming normal partnership working relationships will require significant and continued efforts from all parties.”
The recommended offer of 2.8% is below the current consumer prices index (CPI) rate of inflation, which is 3.2%.
The British Medical Association accused the government of having a “poor grasp” of the issues that led to repeated strike action for almost two years .
The Royal College of Nursing said the offer was “an insult to workers, harmful for patients and counterproductive to rebuilding the NHS”.
RCN general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said: “The government has today told nursing staff they are worth as little as £2 extra a day, less than the price of a coffee.
“Nursing is in crisis – there are fewer joining and too many experienced professionals leaving. The public understands the value of nursing and they know that meaningful reform of the NHS requires addressing the crisis in nursing.”
The RCN pulled out of the pay review body process alongside Unison and Unite because it felt it was “not the route to address the current crisis”, calling for direct NHS pay talks instead.
“Fair pay must be matched by structural reform. Let’s open direct talks now and avoid further escalation to disputes and ballots – I have said that directly to government today,” Professor Ranger added.
Unite claims the 2.8% rise would mean more than 200,000 NHS workers would be paid below the ‘real’ living wage rate of £12.60 an hour.
General secretary Sharon Graham said: “The NHS recruitment and retention crisis will not be solved without taking the issue of restorative pay seriously. The NHS still desperately needs to attract more workers after 14 years of below inflation pay increases.
“This latest below inflation pay recommendation is an insult to dedicated NHS staff and further evidence that the pay review body is broken beyond repair. Unite has long been saying that NHS pay concerns must be resolved through direct negotiations with government.”
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