UNISON members across the NHS have voted to accept the latest multi-year pay offer.

The recent postal ballot of 452,000 members working in the NHS saw 64.91% (of those who voted) say yes to the offer.

This result means that UNISON and the RCN, the two largest NHS unions, representing the overwhelming majority of NHS staff, have now endorsed the multi-year agreement.

"UNISON gave all our health members the opportunity to make their vote count and the ballot result shows what a tough decision it has been"," commented UNISON head of health Karen Jennings.

"The 2.75% on offer this year is the best in the public sector and the three-year deal offers stability. However, the rising costs of everyday items such as food, fuel and energy obviously make members wary about being locked into a three-year deal. That is why we negotiated a reopener clause that we will not hesitate to trigger if inflation continues to rise".

The union warned the government that UNISON members will not tolerate a below-inflation increase next year, and if inflation continues to go up rather than down, UNISON will trigger the re-opener clause for year two.

Members can expect to see the money from this pay rise in their pay packets in July.


 

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