NHS-employed pharmacists should now start to think about how they might react to this year’s pay review.
PDA members working as pharmacists in NHS employers across the UK are concerned about staffing levels, workload and other issues, not just in their own departments but across the whole service.
Many pharmacists are, of course, also affected by recent announcements of structural changes in England, including:
- England’s 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) tasked with halving their costs,
- NHS England to be abolished and merged back into the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC), with an estimated half of NHSE/DHSC jobs to be lost, and
- NHS providers (hospitals and other trusts) also told to reduce costs.
However, while all that is happening at work, every day pharmacists and their families are also dealing with the real terms reductions in their salaries brought about by years of under-inflation pay settlements from previous governments. To address that issue and return pay to its previous real terms value, the new government needs to agree to above-inflation pay increases on an ongoing basis for several years.
Pay Review Bodies
Like many public services, NHS pay outside of Scotland is reviewed through a Pay Review Body (PRB) process, where an independent body receives evidence from many sources, including government and trade unions, before it makes a recommendation on the appropriate amount to increase pay.
In December 2024, the government told the PRBs that they would want to increase pay by 2.8%, which at the time was just above inflation. The PRB would take that into account but are not required to recommend an increase to match that suggestion. Inflation has increased since then and is forecast to potentially rise further.
The PRB reports should soon be with Ministers, and the government will then need to confirm their response. At this time, the members of the various trade unions in the NHS will decide how to react to any proposed increase.
Pharmacists’ response
The PDA Union is now part of the NHS Staff Side and meets throughout the year with other unions, NHS employers and government to discuss NHS matters. While this is done in the spirit of partnership, the PDA remains independent of all employers, including the NHS/government and it exists to support and represent the interests of pharmacists.
The PDA encourages all NHS pharmacists to consider their position in the Agenda for Change pay arrangements, and to be aware of current inflation rates and forecasts to determine what they believe would be a fair increase for all NHS employees.
Once a government proposal is public, the PDA will want to hear from members on those contracts about what they feel is an appropriate response. As with the trade unions that represent other clinical professions, industrial action is a last resort, but remains a possibility if a majority of members employed by the NHS call for it.
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
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