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First Minister announces public sector pay rises

10 Sep 2024 6 minute read
First Minister Eluned Morgan

First Minister Eluned Morgan has today announced above-inflation pay awards for hundreds of thousands of public sector workers in Wales.

NHS staff, teachers and public sector workers in many devolved services will receive pay rises of between 5% and 6% in 2024-25.

The announcement comes as the Welsh Government has accepted the pay recommendations from independent pay review bodies in full:

  • Teachers will receive a 5.5% pay award.
  • NHS staff on Agenda for Change terms and conditions will receive a 5.5% pay award.
  • Doctors and dentists, including GPs and salaried GPs, will receive a 6% pay award, with an additional £1,000 for junior doctors.

“Backbone”

The Welsh Government has also agreed up to an average 5% pay award for civil servants and for staff at a number of other public bodies, including Natural Resources Wales and the Development Bank of Wales.

First Minister Eluned Morgan said: “People across Wales have told us over the summer that public sector workers are the backbone of the services we all rely on – from the nurses in our NHS to teachers in classrooms across Wales.

“They want them to be fairly rewarded for the vital work they do. These pay awards reflect how we value them and respect their hard work.

“But the public has also been clear they want to see improvements in public services – especially in the NHS and education. We will work with these services to deliver on what people have told us over the summer listening exercise.”

Cabinet Secretary for Finance Rebecca Evans said: “We greatly value the hundreds of thousands of people working across the public sector in Wales and the work they do every day. We have worked hard to be able to make this offer.

“We are committed to working in social partnership with trade unions to achieve fair pay settlements which are affordable while also recognising the huge contribution made by public sector workers.”

Independent pay review bodies make recommendations to governments about pay. Other parts of the public sector in Wales, including local government staff, fire and rescue services and social care, are not covered by the independent pay review bodies and are negotiated through a separate process.

Welcomed

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) in Wales has welcomed First Minister Eluned Morgan’s announcement of a 5.5% pay award for its members in Wales.

After months of waiting the RCM says it’s pleased the Welsh Government has accepted the recommendations of the Pay Review Body (PRB) which means midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs) across Wales are now set to receive an above inflation pay award.

The RCM says it’s pleased the award is above inflation and on par with what RCM members in England will receive.

Commenting RCM’s Director for Wales, Julie Richards, said: “In our evidence to the Pay Review Body we called for real terms pay increase, consolidated across the board and one that starts to address the pay cuts our members have faced for far too long. So, we are pleased that the announcement has finally been made. For far too long our hardworking midwives and MSWs across Wales have been left in limbo and we have told the Government time and time again that this delay in announcing a pay increase has really eroded the morale of our hardworking members, making many feel undervalued.”

The RCM says investing in the pay of NHS staff will also go some way towards stemming the tide of midwives who have been weighing up leaving midwifery due to last year’s below inflation pay rise. It has also warned that there are wider issues that need addressing to make sure NHS Wales can retain midwifery staff this includes addressing the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay structure and examining the length of time it takes staff to progress between some pay bands.

Investment in the NHS Job Evaluation Scheme that underpins the pay system, ensuring equal pay for work of equal value is also required says RCM. Job evaluation is also important to addressing wider pay discrimination, gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps. Although the RCM has said for it to work properly it needs effective local application and job matching.

Juile added: “We very much hope that today’s announcement is the beginning of much needed work to improve the pay, terms and conditions of our AfC members in Wales. However, we await more details on the wider aspects of this pay award, but going forward we want to work with the Welsh Government to improve a pay process that many staff have lost faith in. We must also tackle the issues within the Agenda for Change pay system too. We need to ensure it’s a fair pay system for all and that equal pay is given to work of equal value.

The RCM says it will now take this award to the RCM Board for consideration and decisions on next steps including a consultation with its members in Wales.

“Fairer deal”

Doctors at the BMA Cymru Wales welcomed the announcement.

Dr Stephen Kelly, chair of the BMA’s Welsh Consultants Committee said: “Earlier this year our members voted to take industrial action over their pay after they were awarded another below-inflation pay award and less than the DDRB recommendation for the 23/24 financial year.

“After years of being undervalued for our service, doctors made this tough decision to help achieve a fairer deal to retain and attract experienced doctors to work in Wales.

“Thanks to weeks of negotiations with the Welsh Government we were able to reach a fairer settlement, and whilst it didn’t fully restore the real terms pay lost over the last 15 years, today’s announcement of a 6% pay uplift brings us another step closer to achieving this goal.

“We will continue to strive for full pay restoration to ensure doctors in Wales are paid fairly for their service, and in the meantime, we will consult our members to gather their views on pay and conditions”

“Long overdue”

Responding to the announcement, Plaid Cymru spokesperson for Finance, Culture and the Welsh Language Heledd Fychan MS said: “Public sector pay rises are long overdue.

“Plaid Cymru has consistently campaigned for public sector workers to get fair pay for the invaluable work they do for our country.

“We’re clear that public sector workers in Wales should not have to await for announcements in England before receiving improved pay offers. That’s why we urgently need a fair funding model to end Wales’ dependency on political decisions made over the border.

“However, public sector workers have long stated that the challenges facing the workforce across the NHS and education sector go beyond just pay. If we are to truly tackle the recruitment and retention crisis across the public sector, the Labour Welsh Government must immediately listen to and work with these sectors to improve workers’ terms and conditions overall.”


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Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
24 days ago

The old and their carers can go hang, but we will fill the mouths of the young and fit with (fools) Gold…another funny yellow metal instance…500,000 extra deaths since Dave and Osborne rode into town…

The Fat Shanks Effect includes the new normal where whole swathes of the population can be bumped off at the word of minister…

Chris
Chris
24 days ago
Reply to  Mab Meirion

The Fat Shanks Effect includes the new normal where whole swathes of the population can be bumped off at the word of minister…”

Like when Starmer decided to cut winter fuel payments you mean?

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
24 days ago
Reply to  Chris

Yes, exactly, you have got it, well done!

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
24 days ago
Reply to  Chris

The Longshanks effect is still with us is it not, you can’t move for bloody castles and people gawping at them ignorant of the reason they are there…

Do you remember Mr Crowley…

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”

Eton stamps that on their bums…

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
24 days ago
Reply to  Mab Meirion

So every name off the list is worth £12 grand to the treasury a year on average, and if you pop off early the King might cop your lot…

hdavies15
hdavies15
24 days ago

In a few months time, no doubt after M.S’s and M.P’s salaries have been bumped up, there will be cries of “we’re out of funds” followed by “must increase taxation, it’s the fault of those wicked Tories”. Old scripts rehashed with each change of regime and we put up with it. Extra rations for the first person to smack a minister over the head with an empty food container.

Adrian
Adrian
24 days ago

So much for that financial ‘black hole’ they pretended to not have known about.

Why vote
Why vote
24 days ago

Spend spend spend?????? Oaps paying for this or have they found the 20 billion.

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