The latest on the status of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 pay deal in England.
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What has happened with 2022-24 pay?
In 2022, the UK government implemented a pay award for NHS staff in England for 2022-23 of £1,400.
Our members rejected this award, and the CSP undertook an unprecedented industrial action campaign for fair pay. This brought the government back to the negotiating table, where our joint union negotiators secured a revised pay offer covering both 2022-23 and 2023-24, which we then took to members employed in the NHS in England through a consultation process.
Following this consultation in March-April, 65 per cent of CSP members accepted the offer, compared to 35 per cent who rejected – on a turnout of 60 per cent.
A meeting of the NHS Staff Council, which brings together trade unions, NHS Employers and the Department of Health and Social Care, ratified the offer on 2 May based on each of the 14 health unions' votes with memberships. The pay offer will now be implemented, and it is expected to be paid in June pay packets.
What the deal includes
- Two 2022-23 non-consolidated (one-off) payments, made up of a two per cent award for all staff plus an additional backlog recovery bonus, equivalent to four per cent of the pay bill. This means that most staff would receive a one-off payment of around £2,000 in addition to the £1,400 consolidated pay rise already in place for 2022-23
- A consolidated pay rise of five per cent for all grades of AfC staff for 2023-24 plus an additional payment to support the lowest band to bring them in line with the national Living Wage.
What the offer means for your salary
The deal also contains series of non-pay measures, including measures to tackle violence and aggression against health staff; better support for career development and progression; and talks about how to improve the determination of NHS pay.
Find out more
- Read full documentation on the pay offer for 2022-23 and 2023-24. The document also contains details of the non-pay commitments from government.
- Watch a recording of our webinar presentation on the pay offer.
Frequently asked questions
The deal will mean different things to our members depending on their circumstances and pay bands. Check how the pay offer relates to your pay band and situation in the links provided.
- Technical FAQs about the 2022-23 and 2023-24 components of the offer.
- NHS Staff Council has also agreed guidance for staff who want to receive the lump sum payment over multiple months - this may include members in receipt of universal credit.
The most common queries are set out below. FAQs for 2022/23 can be found on our NHS pay award 2022/23 page.
If your question isn’t answered you should speak to your local steward, or if you do not have a steward contact the CSP at enquiries@csp.org.uk
Pay negotiations and consultation process
How would the proposed pay offer be funded?
While it has to remain the responsibility of employers and government to determine how they find the money for pay rises, we recognise that NHS staff are extremely concerned to protect funding for patient services. As a result, the negotiating team did ask for assurance on this aspect. The Secretary of State confirmed that funding for this pay offer would not come out of frontline patient care. Beyond this, the government now needs to provide further details on how this pay offer will be funded.
Why are the pay offers different in other UK nations?
The CSP believes that physiotherapy is a UK-wide profession and that NHS pay should be the same, wherever members work within the UK. However, the reality is that devolved governments are free to offer NHS staff higher pay if they choose to do so. This has led to an increasing divergence across the UK over several years, with notably higher NHS pay in Scotland, despite members there paying more income tax.
The different political dimensions in Scotland with an SNP-led government and in Wales where there is a Labour-led government underlies the divergence, with both governments stating a proactive commitment to working in partnership with trade unions on pay and to supporting public services as a high priority.
This led to both Scottish and Welsh governments opening talks with health unions before any industrial action was taken and working in partnership to reach a revised offer. The government in Westminster allowed four months of strikes before even entering talks.
Why did the CSP recommend the offer?
The CSP has a pay group that is made up of members who themselves work in the NHS across the UK and who sit on the CSP’s employment committee. This group recommended that members accept the offer on the basis that it is the most that can be achieved through negotiation.
Before reaching this recommendation, the pay group had a lengthy discussion about the context and options. Members agreed that the offer was far from perfect and was certainly not everything members need or deserve. The non-consolidated 2022-23 additional offer is a significant amount of money after what has been a very difficult winter for most – but it is a one-off lump sum and this is always far inferior to a consolidated pay increase. Additionally, although inflation is forecast to fall this year, future projections can never be certain.
Set against this, members considered what it had taken to bring this government into talks and what workers in other sectors have been offered. They were also mindful of the 3.5 per cent ceiling that government recommended in its evidence to the Pay Review Body and of the need to supplement the 2022-23 £1400 increase at a time of rising prices. Finally, the group was conscious that only one other Agenda for Change union (the RCN) had a significant industrial action mandate and had taken strike action in NHS provider trusts (as opposed to the wider involvement of ambulance workers). This raised the question of what further pressure could feasibly be applied through various forms of industrial action.
These various factors led to the decision to recommend in the belief that this is the best deal available through negotiation with the current government. The offer would provide some support for members struggling during this cost-of-living crisis and would also offer pay certainty for the coming year. While far from perfect, the offer does represent an improvement for pay in 2022-23. Bearing in mind the limited strike mandates and the fact that those mandates will expire within the coming weeks and months and would require further ballots to be renewed, members did not feel confident that further ballots or action would deliver further improvements.
The majority of Agenda for Change unions recommended members accept the offer, on the basis that it is the most that can be achieved through negotiation with the current government.
The joint health unions, including the CSP, will continue to fight for the value of NHS pay to be restored to pre-2010 levels.
I am not directly employed by the NHS, but I am on an Agenda for Change pay scale. Am I in scope of the offer?
The CSP's pay dispute was part of a national NHS pay dispute, covering those directly employed by the NHS and on Agenda for Change terms and conditions. It was only these members that were balloted for industrial action and have been consulted throughout the process. The offer by the government is now for this group of directly employed staff, and therefore it is this group that are entitled to vote.
If you work for a Social Enterprise Company and Community Interest Company on 'dynamic Agenda for Change contracts' - where you have a contractual right to any change in AfC pay rates - you are part of the CSP national dispute, were balloted for industrial action and included in the CSP's 2023 consultation.
There are a number of other employers outside the NHS who employ staff on contracts that follow Agenda for Change pay or are similar. This includes some employers in the private or charitable sector as well as some Primary Care Networks and GP practices.
If the offer is implemented it is likely to have an impact on anyone who has a contractual entitlement to the full Agenda for Change pay, terms and conditions, including a clear on-going contractual entitlement to future pay awards. You can seek further advice on your own contractual entitlement through your local steward or directly via the CSP enquiries if you do not have a steward.
Consolidated pay offer – 2023-24
Why does it look as if my 2023-24 pay will be lower than 2022-23?
Members will see a year-in-year increase in consolidated salary. Salaries in 2022-23 included the £1400 Pay Review Body award announced summer 2022. Salaries in 2023-24 – if the current offer is accepted – will be this amount, plus a further five per cent.
In addition to this however, you will receive the lump sum contained in the offer. This is a one-off payment (which can be seen as a bonus) which does not affect your substantive salary.
Will High Cost Area supplements be updated in 2023-24?
Yes. All HCAS rates will be uplifted by five per cent.
Is the consolidated payment pensionable?
Yes. The consolidated uplift is pensionable and will form part of an individual’s pensionable earning.
When will staff receive the payment?
Staff can expect to see this payment by the summer with backdating to 1 April 2023.
Non-NHS organisations providing NHS services – eligibility for the pay award
There are an increasing number of organisations that provide NHS services but are not direct NHS employers. This includes private companies such as the HCRG Care Group, GP partnerships often in the form of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) and charities. It also includes the group of Social Enterprises and Community Interest Companies.
Many of these organisations provide NHS services and funding is received from the NHS to deliver the relevant services through service contracts.
These employers are not statutory bodies and therefore do not have to follow the Agenda for Change Handbook and its pay, terms and conditions. It also means they are not within the direct remit of the NHS Staff Council which is the body of Trade Unions, NHS Employers and Department of Health and Social Care that agreed the pay deal and negotiate changes to national terms. In practice many of these employers do follow Agenda for Change, at least in part, but it is variable.
The government’s position in relation to the pay offer was only to fund those employers within the remit of the NHS Staff Council for the non-consolidated part of the offer. Our current understanding is that most employers will receive the 5% uplift to fund the increase in pay for 2023/24, but it will depend on their own contract with the NHS for the services they provide.
At a national level, stakeholders, including trade unions and employers, are calling on the government to provide additional funding for these organisations to enable payment of the non-consolidated lump sum. However, the CSP will also be looking at what support can be provided locally. The following FAQs look at the main groups.
I am employed by a Social Enterprise or Community Interest Company. What is my situation?
It is our understanding that most Social Enterprises and Community Interest Companies are among those that implement ‘dynamic’ Agenda for Change which means they are committed to giving staff national agreements on an on-going basis. If the CSP balloted on pay in your organisation it is because we believed you to be employed on dynamic AfC terms.
However, the government position is there is currently no additional funding being provided to these employers for the non-consolidated amount. We understand funding will be increased for 2023/24 to enable payment of the consolidated rise. Some SECs/CICs have already committed to paying the lump sum regardless of funding.
The CSP is working with other trade unions and with other stakeholders, including Social Enterprise UK, to lobby the government to provide the funding for the lump sum. We are also working locally with stewards and members to review whether there is a contractual entitlement and if so we will look at how we can support members to pursue this locally. Members should contact their local steward for further information but if there is no steward can contact CSP enquiries at enquiries@csp.org.uk
Where there is no steward we would recommend members do work together to elect someone, or if that is not possible nominate someone to be a key contact for this issue and then contact us through enquiries so we can put you in touch with the relevant officer.
In order to consider whether you may have a contractual right to the payments or not, the CSP will need to review a contract of employment. We will seek this from your steward or a key contact.
I am employed by a private company providing NHS services e.g. HCRG Care Group. What is my situation?
The information we have gathered so far suggests there is a wide variation in the type of employment contracts being offered in private companies, even when staff deliver NHS services. For example a few years ago a number of services and staff transferred to Virgin Healthcare, which has subsequently become HCRG Care Group. Some of these staff may still be on contracts that mirror Agenda for Change, and maybe committed to following all Agenda for Change pay and terms, but new staff or different organisations may use completely different employment contracts.
The government position is that there is no additional funding being provided for the non-consolidated lump sum to these companies, but we would expect some increase in funding for 2023/24 depending on the contract between the company and the NHS.
The CSP is working with other unions nationally to raise this issue and also gathering information locally to see if there are places where members may have a contractual right to the uplift through their employment contract. It is likely we would need to show that there is a contractual commitment to follow all aspects of Agenda for Change.
For further information and advice members should contact their steward where possible but if there is no steward can contact CSP enquiries at enquiries@csp.org.uk Where there is no steward we would recommend members do work together to elect someone, or if that is not possible nominate someone to be a key contact for this issue and then contact us through enquiries so we can put you in touch with the relevant officer.
In order to consider whether you may have a contractual right to the payments or not, the CSP will need to review a contract of employment. We will seek this from your steward or a key contact.
I am employed by a GP practice, a GP partnership, a PCN or a Limited Liability Partnership. What is my situation?
Direct employment through a GP practice or partnership, often set up as a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) is becoming more common, but although these organisations provide NHS services they are not statutory NHS employers and do not have to follow Agenda for Change terms and conditions.
It is likely that many do follow Agenda for Change, or mirror most or all of the pay and terms, but as they are relatively new employers we would need to look closely at each one to review the arrangements.
The government position is that there is no additional funding being provided for the non-consolidated lump sum to these organisations, but we would expect some increase in funding for 2023/24 depending on the contract with the NHS.
The CSP is working with other unions nationally to raise this issue and also gathering information locally to see if there are places where members may have a contractual right to the uplift through their employment contract.
For further information and advice members should contact their steward where possible but if there is no steward they can contact CSP enquiries at enquiries@csp.org.uk . Where there is no steward we would recommend members do work together to elect someone, or if that is not possible nominate someone to be a key contact for this issue and then contact us through enquiries so we can put you in touch with the relevant officer.
In order to consider whether you may have a contractual right to the payments or not, the CSP will need to review a contract of employment. We will seek this from your steward or a key contact
Concerns about a separate pay scale for nursing
An offer from the Secretary of State has been made to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to explore the feasibility of separate pay arrangements for nurses. This has caused understandable concern for CSP members.
This is NOT part of the pay offer and was not included in the CSP's consultation. The other 13 unions covered by Agenda for Change, including the CSP, do not support the proposals. We believe there are significant legal and industrial barriers to separate pay arrangements and also that this would be undesirable and unnecessary. We will continue to work with fellow unions to make our view clear as the exploratory discussions proceed in the coming months.
Prior to the recent joint union talks, the RCN and government held separate pay discussions, and we understand this proposal was raised during those. Other unions were not made aware of this but, when they did become aware partway through the talks, the joint negotiating team worked to ensure it was entirely separated from the pay offer.
It is the CSP’s view that Agenda for Change is founded on a single, harmonised, equality-proofed grading and pay system, alongside harmonised terms and conditions. It enshrines equal pay for work of equal value and has stood the NHS in good stead for two decades despite some inevitable imperfections, which can be addressed within the current system.
We all want nursing colleagues to be fairly, equitably and fully recognised, paid and rewarded for the vital role they play. The current system is broad enough to reflect the changing nature of healthcare jobs through new job profiles; full job analysis of very specialist roles; Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRPs); and other options open to all AfC staff.
The NHS is one workforce, one team and is stronger together.
