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We asked you whether 3.6% was enough, and you turned out in record numbers.

In England, 56% of eligible members took part in the consultation, with an overwhelming 91% of members saying the NHS staff pay award of 3.6% was not enough.  

As a pay award, staff on NHS terms and conditions in England and Wales will receive the 3.6% consolidated uplift backdated to 1 April 2025 in August pay packets. 

But it’s not up to the government to tell you what you’re worth.

Your elected member leaders have told Ministers that they must use the summer to reach an agreement on investment in the nursing workforce or face formal escalation to a dispute and an industrial action ballot within weeks.

In Northern Ireland, 51% of eligible members took part in the consultation, with 80% of members saying the recommended pay award of 3.6% for HSC staff was not enough.

We’ve made it clear to the Northern Ireland Executive that any further delay in delivering the 2025/26 pay award is entirely unacceptable to you, our members. We’re working on next steps to secure this long-overdue award and make sure that you and your colleagues in Northern Ireland don’t continue to fall behind on pay parity. 

In Wales, 55% of eligible members took part in the consultation, with an overwhelming 91% of members saying the NHS staff pay award of 3.6% was not enough.

As a pay award, staff on NHS terms and conditions in England and Wales will receive the 3.6% consolidated uplift backdated to 1 April 2025 in August pay packets.

But it’s not up to the government to tell you what you’re worth.

We’re now pushing for meaningful discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and considering next steps. 

We have called for action from Ministers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to use the summer to reach an agreement and invest in the nursing workforce.

If agreements can’t be reached, we may need to escalate and take further action to achieve the true reform on nursing pay that gives you the opportunities you deserve. You need to see changes that make a difference to you, your peers and your patients. We’re finished fighting for scraps every year, pitted against other professions.

As health is devolved to country governments, nursing pay and routes to change vary across the UK.

Last year’s NHS award was announced by a very new Westminster government, elected in July 2024. Since then, we have been seeking to influence ministers on the issues that matter to nursing. That includes repeated calls to open direct negotiations on nursing pay.

We continue to call for this, as well as changes to the NHS pay setting processes. But the patience of nursing is running out. We must make the voice of nursing heard loud and clear, and that’s why your vote in this consultation on your pay was essential and has helped to strengthen our hand in negotiations. 

We have called for action from Ministers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to use the summer to reach an agreement and invest in the nursing workforce.

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