Unlike the rest of the UK, NHS Scotland pay increases are determined through direct negotiations between the Scottish government and the NHS trade unions that form the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC).
The government offer made on Tuesday 8 April covers a two year period and proposes an increase of 4.25% from 1 April 2025 and a further increase of 3.75% from 1 April 2026 for all NHS Scotland staff on Agenda for Change (AfC) terms and conditions. The nine-point offer is as follows:
Scottish Government’s “Agenda for Change” Pay offer – 2025-27
- The Scottish Government’s aim is to deliver an agreed two year pay deal for NHS Scotland Agenda for Change staff.
- In order to achieve this, we have committed an overall financial envelope of £701 million for Agenda for Change pay in years 2025/26 and 2026/27.
- This offer equates to an uplift of 4.25% for all NHS Agenda for Change staff in 2025/26 and 3.75% for 2026/27. This is a cumulative uplift of 8.16%.
- The revised pay scales for each year are set out in Annex 1 below.
- In addition, this offer also incorporates an inflation guarantee which confirms that the increase in pay in each year of the deal will be at least 1 percentage point above the CPI inflation rate. Methodology is outlined in Annex 2.
- Allowances and RRPs which increase in line with pay uplifts will be uprated as appropriate.
- The pay uplift will also apply to the workforce covered by the Two Tier Agreement.
- This offer is subject to acceptance by Trade Unions through their agreed processes.
- The offer for 2026/2027 is calculated on the full, in year benefit of the reduced working week (36 standard working week) for all staff covered by the AFC agreement.
The offer document, including annexes can be read in full here
Paul Day, PDA Union Director said, “The proposed increases would mean our members in NHS Scotland should see their pay grow more quickly than inflation. This will be another step towards restoring the purchasing power of our members’ pay which has reduced due to increases of less than inflation in some previous years”.
PDA members employed on Agenda for Change contracts in Scotland are invited to share their views on this offer by emailing [email protected]
Agenda for Change pay rates in Scotland have been the highest across the four nations for some time because of the direct negotiations with the trade unions.
PDA members should be aware that the proposed pay increase for other UK nations is not yet known as the Westminster government must first receive and respond to the recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB). The PDA recently called on those members to start considering how they want pharmacists to respond once that information is available: https://www.the-pda.org/nhs-pay-update
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