Steve Barclay privately concedes he will have to
increase pay offer to NHS staff
The U-turn may help to end wave of strikes, though
funding it could require cuts to key services
Denis
Campbell , Pippa Crerar and Peter Walker
Thu 12 Jan
2023 20.14 GMT
Steve
Barclay has privately conceded he will have to increase his pay offer to NHS
staff, in a U-turn that may help to end the growing wave of strikes.
However,
the Treasury has made clear he will have to find any new cash from within the
existing health budget, raising the prospect of cuts to key services.
According
to senior sources who have spoken to the Guardian, Barclay has acknowledged
that more than 1 million frontline personnel deserve more money – after months
of repeatedly insisting the existing £1,400 award for 2022-23 was all the
government could afford.
His
hardline stance led to him being called a “bullyboy” by nurses’ leaders and
health unions claiming that ministers’ “intransigence” would lead to a campaign
of industrial action that could last for months and involve regular disruption
of NHS care and treatment.
His
newfound determination to end the walkouts by increasing the £1,400 offer,
which has been confirmed by well-placed Whitehall sources, comes in advance of
nurses in England staging two more stoppages next week, which will again force
hospitals to scale back their activities.
A
government source said that the Treasury is waiting for Barclay to set out
which NHS services could be scaled back in order to release what health service
insiders estimated would be the £2bn to £3bn needed to offer more than 1
million workers an improved deal for 2022-23.
Once he has
done that, Treasury officials will assess whether going beyond the £1,400
original sum will threaten the government’s ambition to get inflation under
control during 2023.
Jeremy
Hunt, the chancellor, has ruled out providing any extra cash, including from
the Treasury’s reserves, to fund a one-off settlement for 2022-23 for health
workers. He has told Barclay he will have to raid the budget of either his own
Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) or more likely NHS England in
order to fund any improved offer.
“Ministers
are intent on preventing further NHS strikes and understand that there will
have to be the offer of extra support on the table for 2022-23,” the government
source said.
Several
health unions confirmed Barclay is working to find the money to fund an
improved deal for this financial year. Unions have made clear that NHS staff
must get more than the £1,400 planned or their strikes will continue for the
foreseeable future.
“There does
seem to be some seriousness on the part of the DHSC to find a solution now,”
said one official. Union leaders spoke of a change in atmosphere between them
and Barclay on Monday, when he gave the first signals that his longstanding
position was no longer sustainable.
Ministers
are closely watching talks on the long-running rail dispute, which both sides
have said are nearing resolution, with an offer of 9.5% over two years
expected, made up of 5.5% the first year and 4% the year after.
This could
set a benchmark for pay in other public sectors, meaning that Barclay would
then know how much cash he would have available for an enhanced offer.
NHS staff
paid between £35,000 and £45,000 are regarded as particularly vulnerable to
cost of living pressures, with many of those taking home less also receiving
some benefits.
Unions are
preparing to escalate their campaign of industrial action over this year’s pay
award. The GMB union is expected to announce early next week a series of
further walkouts by its members in ambulance services in England and Wales. And
a British Medical Association (BMA) ballot of 45,000 junior doctors in England
is likely to produce a strong vote in favour of strikes.
However,
Barclay is unlikely to be able to bring forward any new proposals on pay in
time to head off the strike next Wednesday and Thursday by nurses in England.
He got a
reminder of how difficult it will be coming up with a new offer that unions
will find acceptable on Thursday. Health unions in Wales reacted negatively to
the Welsh Labour government’s bid to break the deadlock over NHS pay there by
offering staff a one-off payment, which would not be added to the baseline of
their salaries, on top of the £1,400.
But unions
insisted they would only accept a bigger percentage increase in their salaries
than the one already offered, which amounts to between 4% and 5% for most
staff. Strikes are likely to continue as planned in Wales.
In
Scotland, Unite and Unison have accepted a “best and final” offer from Nicola
Sturgeon of a £2,205 rise, which equates to about 7.5%, but the GMB and Royal
College of Nursing have rejected it, underlining the difficulty of reaching
agreement with all NHS staff.
On
Thursday, Barclay met the BMA, Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association
and British Dental Association, whose members’ pay is advised on by a separate
NHS pay review body to the one that helps set pay for all other health workers.
Afterwards,
though, Prof Philip Banfield, the BMA’s chair of council, said Barclay’s lack
of recognition of the need to pay doctors a substantial salary uplift – junior
doctors are seeking 26.2% – meant that trainee doctors should vote to stage
walkouts in protest.
He accused
Barclay of using “platitudes” when he stressed his commitment to the NHS.
Banfield
urged the health secretary to use the time before the ballot ends on 20
February to make a concrete offer on junior doctors’ pay.
“In the
meantime, the best thing junior doctors can do now is … vote ‘yes’ to taking
action, ‘yes’ to standing up for our health service and ‘yes’ to protecting
patient care,” he said.
Pressure on
ministers to find a solution to at least some of the NHS strikes is all the
more intense given the prospect of disruption in yet more areas of the public
sector, notably civil servants.
The PCS and
Prospect unions were scathing about their meeting with Cabinet Office minister
Jeremy Quin on Thursday morning, with the head of the PCS describing it as a
“total farce”.
While the
Cabinet Office said Quin wanted to “listen to and understand” union concerns,
Mark Serwotka, the PCS general secretary, said: “This meeting was a total
farce. Despite being well-trailed by the government as a chance to resolve the
crisis, it was nothing of the sort because the minister had nothing to offer.”
The head of
Prospect, Mike Clancy, said his union would continue with plans to ballot
members on strike action given the lack of movement from Quin.
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