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A 5.5% consolidated pay award for all directly employed NHS staff employed on Agenda for Change terms and conditions was announced by the Welsh government on 10th September 2024, it will be backdated to 1 April 2024. You can expect to see the 5.5% pay increase reflected in your November pay. 

If you’d like to seek instalment payments of backdated pay, you can find NHS Employers guidance 

If you are employed directly by an NHS organisation in Wales as set out in Annex 1 of the national NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook, on Agenda for Change terms and conditions, you will receive the award regardless of the result of our consultation.

The NHS Pay Review Body recommended:

• A consolidated 5.5% increase with effect from 1 April 2024 for all Agenda for Change staff in the NHS.
• Intermediate pay points to be added for Bands 8 and above.
• Work with the UK government to take forward the Pay Review Body’s recommendations on Agenda for Change pay structures 

See statement from Cabinet minister for Health here.

Governments can use different routes to determine pay awards. Often UK governments ask independent pay review bodies to look at the evidence and make recommendations on public sector pay before ministers consider their findings and decide whether to accept those recommendations.

The NHS Pay Review Body makes recommendations on the pay of staff employed by the NHS on NHS Agenda for Change (AfC) terms and conditions. It does not make recommendations for very senior managers or doctors and dentists who have their own Review body who make separate and specific recommendations for that group. Read more about the NHS Pay Review Body.

The RCN contributes analysis on ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ pay to these processes, it’s one of the ways we have to talk to the UK government about your pay. Using your vote on consultations like this puts you in the conversation. Every vote shows you’re willing to speak up for your profession and protect your patients.

No, the Welsh government accepted the NHS Pay Review Body’s recommendation and announced a 5.5% pay award for NHS staff in Wales on NHS (Agenda for Change) terms and conditions.

This award applies to staff employed on NHS (Agenda for Change) terms and conditions by NHS organisations in Wales as identified in Annex 1 of the national NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook.

Please check your contract for these details and whether it includes reference to the annual NHS pay award.

The details of how this award will be implemented have not been released. Full details of this award will be published soon by NHS Employers. 

Yes, all NHS staff in Wales who are employed on NHS (Agenda for Change) terms and conditions will receive the pay award. This means that if you are on full pay or half pay during your maternity leave, the amount you receive will increase proportionally in line with the pay award. However, this has no effect on the Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP). If you are in a period of maternity leave in which you are only eligible to receive SMP, these payments will not increase.

Your pay is determined by your employer and not by the UK government.  The recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body relate to staff employed by NHS organisations as identified in Annex 1 of the NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook.  However, as the NHS is the largest health care employer in the UK, many independent health and social care employers use NHS pay as a benchmark in setting pay. Increases in NHS pay often lead to increases in pay in other parts of the health and care sector.

The UK government must invest in ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ, not just within the NHS, but all services and settings where ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ care is delivered. The RCN has always called for pay parity between the NHS and every other health and social care setting. We continue to support members employed in independent health and social care settings to seek appropriate recognition in their pay and working conditions in respect of the complex, expert care they deliver.

To ensure you receive information and updates that matter to you, it’s important we know where you work. Visit My RCN to make sure your details are correct.

The Scottish government’s pay offer relates to all staff on Agenda for Change terms and conditions employed by the NHS in Scotland. The pay offer follows weeks of negotiations between the RCN, other health trade unions, the Scottish government and NHS employers. The offer is for a consolidated 5.5% increase with effect from 1 April 2024 for all NHS Scotland staff on Agenda for Change terms and conditions. Members in RCN Scotland have accepted the offer.

Read the new NHS pay offer for Scotland in full here.

The RCN expects the 5.5% Agenda for Change pay award announced in England will be implemented in full in Northern Ireland. Eligible RCN members will be consulted on any pay award. We await confirmation from the Northern Ireland Department of Health as clarity is required regarding the funding of the award in Northern Ireland.

RCN Northern Ireland has written to all Northern Ireland MPs urging them to use their influence at Westminster to make the case for the award to be fully funded in Northern Ireland and we will continue to demand an early resolution to this issue.

The Welsh government accepted the NHS PRB's recommendation to add an intermediate pay point at each of bands 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d, and 9, to which staff should progress after two years at the respective band. 

This recommendation has also been ratified by the NHS Staff Council, and NHS Employers expects the intermediate pay point increase to salaries and retrospective pay (backdated to 1 April 2024) to be paid in November salaries. You can find further details on these changes .

Make sure you take the opportunity to tell us how you feel about this pay award. Is it enough

The UK government will provide the NHS Staff Council with a funded mandate to resolve outstanding concerns within the Agenda for Change pay structure, in line with the NHS PRB’s recommendation. Further details of what this mandate will include and the potential scope of these structural changes has not yet been confirmed.

Tax credits are means tested on the income you receive during a relevant financial year. The amount of tax credits is initially based on previous year’s income. They must report their current year income in response to the S17 notice, and their awards are then finalised. 

If your pay is less than £2500 more than the previous Tax Year, your award will remain the same. If the lump sum back payment and on-going pay award means your income is more than £2500 than the previous tax year, then your award will be adjusted. Learn further information about reporting pay increases from Working out your income for tax credit claims and renewals - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

For advice on how the pay award will impact you in future months, you can use one of the online benefits calculators on the following RCN Page or seek advice from the RCN Welfare Service.

If you’d like to seek instalment payments of backdated pay, you can find 

As a consolidated pay award, this increase will increase your pensionable pay. Your pensionable pay is used to calculate your pension contributions and your eventual pension benefit. This means that this pay award should increase your pension benefit.

The level of pension contribution you pay is aligned to contribution thresholds that increase at the same rate as NHS pay awards. Therefore, you won’t see a direct increase in the pension contributions you make.

When you retire, your pension benefit is calculated on your pensionable pay therefore, increasing your pensionable pay will increase your pension benefit.

Payment of Child Benefit is based on net ‘adjusted income.’ Your adjusted net income is your total taxable income before any personal allowances but will then be reduced by the amounts you pay into certain pension schemes and any Gift Aid payments.

You can also reduce your net adjusted income by applying for Tax relief. For example, you can get tax relief on your RCN (ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ) membership and NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) (Nursing and Midwifery Council) fees. Further information can be found here. Your total taxable income includes interest from savings and dividends.

If your new net adjusted income is above £60,000 after the annual pay award, you will have to pay a Child Benefit charge, which will reduce the amount of benefit you receive.

As everyone has a different financial situation, the RCN cannot provide individual advice as to whether your adjusted net income is over £60,000, but you can work this out by using the 

If it is over £60,000 the calculator will also tell you how much of a High Income charge you will have to pay.

The 5.5% increase is above the current rate of inflation in the UK. The RPI measure of inflation shows inflation was 3.6% in the 12 months to July 2024.

RCN members currently employed by the following organisations can vote in this consultation:

An NHS organisation in Wales named in Annex 1 of the , employed on NHS (Agenda for Change) terms and conditions.

Make sure your details are up to date on your MyRCN record to make sure your vote is counted.

No. Only RCN members who are currently employed by the NHS in Wales on NHS (Agenda for Change) terms and conditions are eligible to vote on the 2024-25 pay award. Make sure your details are up to date on your RCN record to make sure your vote is counted.

We believe that general practice ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ staff should have, as a minimum, equal terms and conditions to colleagues employed in the NHS.  We are working with you to call for the pay increases and transparency you need from your employer.

A small number of general practice staff are directly employed in the NHS on NHS (Agenda for Change) terms and conditions. If that includes you, then you should automatically receive the NHS pay award and are eligible to vote in this consultation.

The majority of ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ staff working in general practice are employed by their practice and therefore their pay is within the remit of the GP contract.

The Welsh Government announced it had accepted a 6% pay rise for doctors and dentists, including GPs, and a 5.5% pay rise for NHS staff on Agenda for Change – as recommended by the independent pay review bodies. In making the announcement, cabinet secretary for health and social care Mark Drakeford, recognised that GPNs and other GP staff fell outside of the scope of the recommendations.

Negotiations between the Welsh Government and the British Medical Association (BMA) regarding the General Medical Services (GMS) contracts for GPs in Wales will commence shortly.

The Welsh Government has said it wants to see a ‘fair and proportionate’ pay rise for all general practice Nursing staff and their colleagues – but concerns remain over delayed negotiations between ministers and the British Medical Association (BMA) in Wales.

Get involved and find out more about our work to secure the pay, terms and conditions you deserve.  

RCN student members who are directly employed on NHS terms and conditions by an NHS organisation in Wales (as identified in Annex 1 of the NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook) are eligible to take part in this consultation.

Yes, provided you are an RCN member and employed by an NHS organisation in Wales as identified in Annex 1 of the national NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook on NHS (Agenda for Change) terms and conditions, you are eligible to take part in this consultation.

Trainee ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ associates who are directly employed on NHS terms and conditions by an NHS organisation in Wales (as identified in Annex 1 of the national NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook) are eligible to take part in this consultation.

Apprentices who are directly employed on NHS terms and conditions by an NHS organisation in Wales (as identified in Annex 1 of the national NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook) are eligible to take part in this consultation. 

The award only applies to staff directly employed on NHS terms and conditions by an NHS organisation in Wales (as identified in Annex 1 of the national NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook) .Please check your contract and whether it includes reference to the annual NHS pay award. 

NHS Professionals is not an NHS organisation identified in Annex 1 of the national NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook.  The award only applies to staff directly employed on NHS terms and conditions by NHS organisations in Wales (as identified in Annex 1 of the NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook). If you are unsure, please check your contract for these details. 

This depends on how and when you were transferred:

'Static' transferees will not receive the pay award because the terms of your transfer effectively freeze your contract, including pay and conditions, at the point of your transfer. This means that you do not automatically benefit from subsequent pay awards.

'Dynamic' transferees should receive the pay award because your terms and conditions should continue to mirror those in the NHS.

If you are unsure of your transfer status you can check your contract of employment or speak to your employer or call RCN Direct.

You are the RCN and if you want to be a part of ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ activism and lead on the issues that matter most to you, you can find out more about activism and organising, our forums and networks and how to become an RCN rep.

If you want to know more about our campaigning activity, become a campaign supporter.