The NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) is one of eight such independent advisory non-departmental public bodies who provide evidence-based advice and recommendations to governments across the UK on levels of pay for their respective remit groups. The NHSPRB covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Governments are not bound by Pay Review Bodies’ recommendations. It is up to the Prime Minister, relevant Secretaries of State and ministers to decide how to respond to recommendations from Pay Review Bodies.
NHS Unions, including the PDA Union, represent the interests of NHS employees to the Pay Review Body, the government and to employers. For example, this joint letter to the government in November outlined the context of NHS pay for the new government.
In December the government published their written evidence into the NHS Pay Review Body.
The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) said that they can only afford 2.8% for the 2025/26 pay award overall.
However, from that 2.8% an amount is first needed to pay for part three of the 24/25 pay award – the funded mandate to make structural changes to the Agenda for Change pay structure. The 2.8% also needs to fund the uplifts required to bring band 2 workers above the National Living Wage before April 2025 when once again they will otherwise fall below.
While the new government narrative in general has been about supporting NHS pay, the above deductions would likely leave insufficient for a pay award to match or exceed inflation, unless the PRB recommendations and/or final government decision exceed that figure.
NHS Employers is the employers’ organisation for the NHS in England also submitted their written NHSPRB evidence in December.
What happens next with pay?
The government hoped to bring PRB processes into time so that pay awards are implemented when due, and do not require backdating, and they did start the process early. However, the PDA currently expects the government to receive Pay Review Body recommendations in April and make an announcement on the pay increase they will implement in May. Following normal practice, that pay increase should be backdated to 1 April 2025 when it is due.
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