If you want to get involved with GMBs Pay Campaign email NHS@gmb.org.uk
GMB Pay Claim 2024/25 - Safe Staffing Levels
Posted on:
GMBs Pay Claim for 2024/25 was submitted to the Department of Health & Social Care on 6th
February 2024. The pay claim was agreed by GMBs National NHS & Ambulance Committees after considering the results from GMB member surveys.
One of the pay claim asks was for:
Safe StaffingLevels.
Below you will find a brief explanation as to why GMB has included this as a part of this year’s pay claim.
Is this an issue of importance to you?
Do you want to get involved in campaigning on this as a part of this year’s pay campaign?
Do you have a work colleague who would be a good campaigner / leader?
If so – enter contact details on this form and someone will be in touch – thank you!
GMB members regularly report to us the damaging and devastating impacts that pay cuts are having on workers and everyone who relies on NHS services. Years of underfunding and real-terms wage cuts are affecting all those who rely on the NHS. According to the latest figures on vacancy rates, there are over 121,000 vacancies in England. Failure to resolve the on-going issues of NHS staff being able to access flexible working options will only exacerbate this.
Pay cuts, rising demand, and the experience of providing essential services during the pandemic have had a profound and negative effect on many NHS workers’ mental health. This is compounded by the high rates of additional hours worked, both paid and unpaid. In a recent survey of GMB members, stress and burnout were stated as being a major area of concern for NHS workers, second only to pay. Staffing levels, and unpaid breaks / additional hours were voted third and fourth.
GMB members consistently raise with us concerns of unsafe staffing levels and the impacts on patient care. GMB Congress 2023 noted that there were staff shortages in every department of the NHS. Dangerously low levels of trained nursing staff on wards. And yet when concerns are raised with local NHS employers, the reply is simply that there are no more staff to cover. GMB has reports of Band 3 Health Care Support Workers being left in charge of wards until suitably qualified staff members arrive. The duty of care to staff and patients is being breached.
Ensuring there are safe staffing levels across the NHS must be a priority for the Government and this will only be achieved by improving the pay and working conditions of staff. Pay is not the only factor that influences recruitment and retention trends, and in turn impacts on patient care, but it is the variable that the Government and employers have the most immediate control over.
Tell us what you think?
Are you concerned about unsafe staffing levels in your workplace?
How does that impact the health and well-being of you and your colleagues?
Are you concerned for patient care?
We want to hear from GMB members on this issue.
Send us your stories and video messages by email to NHS@gmb.org.uk
What else is in the pay claim?
£1.50 per hour consolidated increase for all staff on Agenda for Change contracts (or RPI, whichever is greater)
Restorative Pay: A commitment to restore lost earnings and conditions and a plan on how this will be achieved.
Measures to ensure the NHS never falls below the Foundation Living Wage.
Unsocial Hours Enhancements: All changes made under the 2018 pay settlement are reversed, including the application of Annex 5 for all ambulance service workers.
Ambulance Retirement Age: An urgent review into the retirement age of ambulance service workers with a view to lowering the retirement age to 60, in line with other emergency service workers.
FreeNHS Car Parking: Restore funding for NHS trusts to provide parking at no cost for NHS workers.
Immediate action to rectify Job Evaluation and Equal Pay issues.
Safe Staffing Levels.
Parity of Pay and payment of this year’s pay award to outsourced and contracted out staff.
GMB Pay Claim 2024/25 Job Evaluation & Equal Pay
Posted on:
GMBs Pay Claim for 2024/25 was submitted to the Department of Health & Social Care on 6th
February 2024. The pay claim was agreed by GMBs National NHS & Ambulance Committees after considering the results from GMB member surveys.
One of the pay claim asks was for:
Immediate action to rectify Job Evaluation and Equal Pay issues.
Below you will find a brief explanation as to why GMB has included this as a part of this year’s pay claim.
Is this an issue of importance to you?
Do you want to get involved in campaigning on this as a part of this year’s pay campaign?
Do you have a work colleague who would be a good campaigner / leader?
If so – enter contact details on this form and someone will be in touch – thank you!
Job evaluation has become a major problem across the whole of the NHS and ambulance services and affects GMB members working in all roles and across all Agenda for Change pay bands.
Years of underfunding to the NHS has resulted in chronic staffing shortages and increased workloads for those staff who remain, and job creep has become a real issue.
GMB has actively engaged in the review of the full set of ambulance profiles and the on-going review of nursing and midwifery profiles. GMB is also represented on the NHS Staff Council Job Evaluation Group (JEG) and are actively engaged in that work. However, we have grave concerns about the lack of capacity and resources across JEG.
The huge amount of work that needs to be undertaken to ensure staff are being paid appropriately cannot be understated. Action is needed immediately. Attention and resources to provide physical support and infrastructure to speed up the work of JEG. Failure to do so means that the NHS is in immediate danger of breaching equal pay laws.
Tell us what you think?
Do you believe you are acting at levels above what you are being paid, or carrying out more duties than your job description details?
Do you know when your job was last reviewed?
If you have concerns about job evaluation or equal pay, please speak to your local GMB Representative. Alternatively, you can email your details to NHS@gmb.org.uk
What else is in the pay claim?
£1.50 per hour consolidated increase for all staff on Agenda for Change contracts (or RPI, whichever is greater)
Restorative Pay: A commitment to restore lost earnings and conditions and a plan on how this will be achieved.
Measures to ensure the NHS never falls below the Foundation Living Wage.
Unsocial Hours Enhancements: All changes made under the 2018 pay settlement are reversed, including the application of Annex 5 for all ambulance service workers.
Ambulance Retirement Age: An urgent review into the retirement age of ambulance service workers with a view to lowering the retirement age to 60, in line with other emergency service workers.
FreeNHS Car Parking: Restore funding for NHS trusts to provide parking at no cost for NHS workers.
Immediate action to rectify Job Evaluation and Equal Pay issues.
Safe Staffing Levels.
Parity of Pay and payment of this year’s pay award to outsourced and contracted out staff.
GMB Pay Claim 2024/25 - Free Car Parking
Posted on:
GMBs Pay Claim for 2024/25 was submitted to the Department of Health & Social Care on 6th February 2024. The pay claim was agreed by GMBs National NHS & Ambulance Committees after considering the results from GMB member surveys.
One of the pay claim asks was for:
Free NHS Car Parking: Restore funding for NHS trusts to provide parking at no cost for NHS workers.
Below you will find a brief explanation as to why GMB has included this as a part of this year’s pay claim.
Is this an issue of importance to you?
Do you want to get involved in campaigning on this as a part of this year’s pay campaign?
Do you have a work colleague who would be a good campaigner / leader?
If so – enter contact details on this form and someone will be in touch – thank you!
Car parking charges have long represented a ‘stealth tax’ on NHS workers, many of whom work in the community and need a car to travel between their patients homes and their workplace, or work at locations that are not easily accessible by public transport, by walking or cycling.
During the pandemic we secured car parking for NHS workers at no cost. Yet, during the worst cost of living crisis in a generation, funding has been removed and NHS trusts have started to re-introduce car parking charges for their employees. A Freedom of Information Request carried out by GMB found that the total income from staff car parking to NHS trusts in 2022/23 was £46,653,234.00. An increase of £41 million, or 730%, on income generated in 2021/22.
GMB is calling on Government to restore the funding for NHS trusts to enable them to provide parking at no cost for their essential workforce.
Tell us what you think?
Paying to park at work can be a huge financial burden to NHS workers. Some NHS trusts have already decided to scrap car parking charges for NHS staff to support and value their workers.
What would free car parking at mean to you?
How would the additional money you would have as a result impact you and your family?
How would it change your day to day life?
Please send your stories or video messages to NHS@gmb.org.uk
What else is in the pay claim?
£1.50 per hour consolidated increase for all staff on Agenda for Change contracts (or RPI, whichever is greater)
Restorative Pay: A commitment to restore lost earnings and conditions and a plan on how this will be achieved.
Measures to ensure the NHS never falls below the Foundation Living Wage.
Unsocial Hours Enhancements: All changes made under the 2018 pay settlement are reversed, including the application of Annex 5 for all ambulance service workers.
Ambulance Retirement Age: An urgent review into the retirement age of ambulance service workers with a view to lowering the retirement age to 60, in line with other emergency service workers.
FreeNHS Car Parking: Restore funding for NHS trusts to provide parking at no cost for NHS workers.
Immediate action to rectify Job Evaluation and Equal Pay issues.
Safe Staffing Levels.
Parity of Pay and payment of this year’s pay award to outsourced and contracted out staff.
GMB Pay Claim 2024/25 - Ambulance Retirement Age
Posted on:
GMBs Pay Claim for 2024/25 was submitted to the Department of Health & Social Care on 6th February 2024. The pay claim was agreed by GMBs National NHS & Ambulance Committees after considering the results from GMB member surveys.
One of the pay claim asks was for:
Ambulance Retirement Age: An urgent review into the retirement age of ambulance service workers with a view to lowering the retirement age to 60, in line with other emergency service workers.
Below you will find a brief explanation as to why GMB has included this as a part of this year’s pay claim.
Is this an issue of importance to you?
Do you want to get involved in campaigning on this as a part of this year’s pay campaign? Do you have a work colleague who would be a good campaigner / leader?
The ambulance service is the only ‘blue light’ emergency service that does not provide an earlier retirement age. GMB members (particularly those on the frontline) report that they are increasingly leaving the service before their normal retirement age due to the increased physical and mental strains associated with heavy lifting, the risk of assault, extended shift working, and other formal or informal demands. Current working arrangements mean that Paramedics and other ambulance workers are expected to endure these pressures until they are up to 68, depending on when they joined the service.
The lack of a structured route to early retirement is leading to a premature loss of skills and institutional knowledge (as many workers feel that a career change is the only way to achieve financial security in retirement). The new flexible working and retirement options are proving to be most difficult to access for ambulance workers due to the nature of your working patterns and conditions. Without any credible redeployment options, ambulance service workers are forced into jobs outside of the NHS – such as in GPs and colleges, where the working hours and conditions are more suitable.
There is a profound sense of injustice amongst GMB members employed in ambulance services against the different treatment between blue light services, and against the Government’s decision to raise the normal retirement age twice in ten years.
GMB is calling for an urgent review into the retirement age of ambulance workers. Ambulance workers should be able to retire at the age of 60, in line with other emergency service workers.
What else is in the pay claim?
£1.50 per hour consolidated increase for all staff on Agenda for Change contracts (or RPI, whichever is greater)
Restorative Pay: A commitment to restore lost earnings and conditions and a plan on how this will be achieved.
Measures to ensure the NHS never falls below the Foundation Living Wage.
Unsocial Hours Enhancements: All changes made under the 2018 pay settlement are reversed, including the application of Annex 5 for all ambulance service workers.
Ambulance Retirement Age: An urgent review into the retirement age of ambulance service workers with a view to lowering the retirement age to 60, in line with other emergency service workers.
Free NHS Car Parking: Restore funding for NHS trusts to provide parking at no cost for NHS workers.
Immediate action to rectify Job Evaluation and Equal Pay issues.
Safe Staffing Levels.
Parity of Pay and payment of this year’s pay award to outsourced and contracted out staff.
GMBs Pay Claim for 2024/25 was submitted to the Department of Health & Social Care on 6th February 2024. The pay claim was agreed by GMBs National NHS & Ambulance Committees after considering the results from GMB member surveys.
One of the pay claim asks was for:
Unsocial Hours Enhancements: All changes made under the 2018 pay settlement are reversed, including the application of Annex 5 for all ambulance service workers.
Below you will find a brief explanation as to why GMB has included this as a part of this year’s pay claim.
Is this an issue of importance to you?
Do you want to get involved in campaigning on this as a part of this year’s pay campaign? Do you have a work colleague who would be a good campaigner / leader?
In 2018, the health unions and employers negotiated a three year pay deal. There were several parts to the pay offer that GMB were not happy with as we believed they would cause a financial detriment to some of our members. This is why GMB rejected the pay offer. However, the pay offer was voted through by all other unions and therefore was implemented.
One of the detriments we had concerns about was the changes to unsocial hours enhancements. There were two main concerns
In the ambulance service, all staff received unsocial hours enhancements in line with Annex 5 Agenda for Change. The 2018 pay offer would close Annex 5 to all new starters in the ambulance service, and any existing ambulance service worker who changed jobs would be forced onto Section 2 Agenda for Change, for their unsocial hours enhancements.
In NHS hospital and community settings, staff receive social hours enhancements in line with Section 2 Agenda for Change. The 2018 pay offer reduced payments for Bands 1-3 and removed entitlements to these enhancements when on sick leave.
The closure of Annex 5 Agenda for Change provisions for unsociable hours payments to new entrants in the ambulance service has been one of the most detrimental conditions of the 2018 pay settlement, which was opposed by GMB members. Alongside the financial impacts of the loss of earnings per hour under Section 2, the enforced transition to Section 2 upon a change of contract has prevented promotions or relocations for many of our members. It has also created a two-tier ambulance workforce.
Under Section 2, fewer hours are classified as unsociable during the working week (Monday to Friday), and the maximum enhancement is reduced from 25 per cent of total basic pay to 30 per cent of time worked. In practice, this change in terms and conditions represents a significant loss in earning potential.
Section 2 applies to staff across the rest of the NHS, excluding the ambulance service staff as referenced above. The 2018 pay settlement, reduced payments for Bands 1-3 and removed the entitlement to enhancements when on sick leave. An effective fine for being ill.
The unpopularity of this provision and the changes introduced in 2018 cannot be overstated. GMB is asking that all changes made under the 2018 pay settlement are reversed.
What else is in the pay claim?
£1.50 per hour consolidated increase for all staff on Agenda for Change contracts (or RPI, whichever is greater)
Restorative Pay: A commitment to restore lost earnings and conditions and a plan on how this will be achieved.
Measures to ensure the NHS never falls below the Foundation Living Wage.
Unsocial Hours Enhancements: All changes made under the 2018 pay settlement are reversed, including the application of Annex 5 for all ambulance service workers.
Ambulance Retirement Age: An urgent review into the retirement age of ambulance service workers with a view to lowering the retirement age to 60, in line with other emergency service workers.
Free NHS Car Parking: Restore funding for NHS trusts to provide parking at no cost for NHS workers.
Immediate action to rectify Job Evaluation and Equal Pay issues.
Safe Staffing Levels.
Parity of Pay and payment of this year’s pay award to outsourced and contracted out staff.
GMB Pay Claim 2024/25 - Restorative Pay
Posted on:
GMBs Pay Claim for 2024/25 was submitted to the Department of Health & Social Care on 6th February 2024. The pay claim was agreed by GMBs National NHS & Ambulance Committees after considering the results from GMB member surveys.
One of the pay claim asks was for:
Restorative Pay: A commitment to restore lost earnings and conditions and a plan on how this will be achieved.
Below you will find a brief explanation as to why GMB has included this as a part of this year’s pay claim.
Is this an issue of importance to you?
Do you want to get involved in campaigning on this as a part of this year’s pay campaign?
Do you have a work colleague who would be a good campaigner / leader?
If so – enter contact details on this form and someone will be in touch – thank you!
NHS pay is worth significantly less than it was in 2010. More than a decade of pay constraints has had a serious and detrimental impact on NHS workers quality of life, and upon your ability to afford necessities.
Whilst central Government has imposed pay constraints in the past, the absence of restorative awards since 2010 is unprecedented. The real wage cuts of the early 1970s were mostly reversed by 1980. Even the public sector wage cuts during the Great Depression of the early 1930s were reversed within a couple of years. But – uniquely in British political history – there has been no policy of restoration since the modern round of pay austerity was imposed.
Deteriorating pay is a contributory factor as to why staff are leaving the NHS. There must be an above inflation increase, that makes progress towards the restoration of real earnings. NHS workers have also lost other terms and conditions that GMB is seeking to restore. These include the removal of the right to retire at 60, unsocial hours enhancements reduced and removed when on sick leave, and subsistence allowances haven’t increased since the introduction of Agenda for Change.
GMB is seeking a commitment to restore lost earnings and conditions and a plan on how this will be achieved.
The table below shows how NHS worker pay has been devalued since 2010.
What else is in the pay claim?
£1.50 per hour consolidated increase for all staff on Agenda for Change contracts (or RPI, whichever is greater)
Restorative Pay: A commitment to restore lost earnings and conditions and a plan on how this will be achieved.
Measures to ensure the NHS never falls below the Foundation Living Wage.
Unsocial Hours Enhancements: All changes made under the 2018 pay settlement are reversed, including the application of Annex 5 for all ambulance service workers.
Ambulance Retirement Age: An urgent review into the retirement age of ambulance service workers with a view to lowering the retirement age to 60, in line with other emergency service workers.
FreeNHS Car Parking: Restore funding for NHS trusts to provide parking at no cost for NHS workers.
Immediate action to rectify Job Evaluation and Equal Pay issues.
Safe Staffing Levels.
Parity of Pay and payment of this year’s pay award to outsourced and contracted out staff.
GMB Pay Claim 2024/25 - £1.50 Per Hour
Posted on:
GMBs Pay Claim for 2024/25 was submitted to the Department of Health & Social Care on 6th February 2024. The pay claim was agreed by GMBs National NHS & Ambulance Committees after considering the results from GMB member surveys.
One of the pay claim asks was for:
£1.50 per hour consolidated increase for all staff on Agenda for Change contracts (or RPI, whichever is greater)
Below you will find a brief explanation as to why GMB has included this as a part of this year’s pay claim.
Is this an issue of importance to you?
Do you want to get involved in campaigning on this as a part of this year’s pay campaign? Do you have a work colleague who would be a good campaigner / leader?
GMB is seeking a consolidated uplift in pay for all Agenda for Change pay bands and points of £1.50 per hour, or RPI, whichever is greater. RPI is the Retail Price Index – one of two measures of inflation produced by the UKs Office for National Statistics (ONS). It measures cost of living increases. Therefore, any pay award below this is considered to be real terms pay cut.
A minimum of £1.50 per hour increase for all staff, would lift the lowest paid up to 95p above the Foundation Living Wage and be a move towards restoring real terms losses in previous years. The Foundation Living Wage, otherwise known as the Real Living Wage, is a calculation based on the cost of living and is voluntarily paid by over 14,000 UK employers. Currently, the lowest paid on Agenda for Change Contracts are just 1p above the National Living Wage. This is the absolute minimum an employer can pay to be in line with Government set minimum rates of pay.
The pay of NHS workers has been devalued since 2010 due to pay freezes, pay caps and below inflation pay awards. As significant uplift in pay is crucial for NHS workers and must sit alongside a commitment and plan to restore the years of pay erosion.
Tell us what you think?
For someone working full time, a £1.50 per hour increase would £56 per week, or £243 per month, or £2,925 per year.
We want to hear from NHS members about what a £1.50 per hour increase would mean to you and your family? How would it impact your day to day life?
Please send your stories or video messages to NHS@gmb.org.uk
What else is in the pay claim?
£1.50 per hour consolidated increase for all staff on Agenda for Change contracts (or RPI, whichever is greater)
Restorative Pay: A commitment to restore lost earnings and conditions and a plan on how this will be achieved.
Measures to ensure the NHS never falls below the Foundation Living Wage.
Unsocial Hours Enhancements: All changes made under the 2018 pay settlement are reversed, including the application of Annex 5 for all ambulance service workers.
Ambulance Retirement Age: An urgent review into the retirement age of ambulance service workers with a view to lowering the retirement age to 60, in line with other emergency service workers.
Free NHS Car Parking: Restore funding for NHS trusts to provide parking at no cost for NHS workers.
Immediate action to rectify Job Evaluation and Equal Pay issues.
Safe Staffing Levels.
Parity of Pay and payment of this year’s pay award to outsourced and contracted out staff.
WHAT DOES THE GMB £1.50 PAY CLAIM MEAN TO YOU?
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WHAT DOES THE GMB £1.50 PAY CLAIM MEAN TO YOU?
(This does not include High Cost Area Supplements)
Inflation forecasts are currently 5.1%, therefore the claim seeks RPI rather than £1.50 per hour for Bands 8b and above. This is to ensure that no NHS worker receives less than the cost of living increases.
NHS Pay Claim 2024/25
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Dear Members,
Please click the link below to read GMB’s NHS Pay Claim for 2024/25.
