Although newspaper headlines described the increase as 4.5% for NHS employees, for most of the thousands of PDA members employed by the NHS the highest increase is 4%. Many will be receiving increases below this depending on their existing band pay point.
The PDA Union has carried out a detailed analysis of what the increase means at each pay point relevant to PDA members in the NHS, which can be found below. The analysis also shows how far below the increase in prices this figure is, using the March 2022 cost of living increase as the one most appropriate to a pay increase due and backdated to April.
This data shows the extent to which the purchasing power of NHS salaries will be eroded by this award. The PDA Union believes this is very disappointing as much work has been done in recent years to restructure the Agenda for Change pay rates and make them fit for purpose, work that will be wasted if the rates fall behind inflation again.
The PDA Union is also concerned that despite making the award the government has not agreed to finance the full cost centrally, instead telling Trusts they must find around a third of the cost from existing budgets. This raises the very real prospect that PDA members will see cuts to front-line patient services to finance the increase, something the PDA Union believes is unfair and unachievable without serious impacts on services.
NHS Trade Unions are considering their response to this pay award and the PDA Union will be listening very closely to the views of PDA members directly employed in the NHS and covered by Agenda for Change terms and conditions. Any PDA member who is therefore covered by this award should use the link below and complete the survey. This will help the PDA to determine what approach they should take to this award on behalf of members.
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