Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide funding from the public purse for (a) a one-off bonus and (b) an annual pay increase to health care workers in recognition of their efforts in responding to the covid-19 outbreak.

We are incredibly proud of all National Health Service staff and value their extraordinary commitment to providing world class care during these unprecedented times.

Over one million of ‘non-medical’ NHS staff, including nurses, continue to benefit from the three-year Agenda for Change (AfC) pay and contract reform deal, agreed in partnership with NHS trade unions and employer representatives. This is the final year of the deal and has seen year on year pay increases for all AfC staff including 16% increases for the lowest paid since 2017/18. For NHS medical staff not in existing multi-year pay and contract reform deals we accepted in full the Review Body for Doctors and Dentists Remuneration’s (DDRB) recommendation for a uniform 2.8% pay uplift in July 2020.

For recommendations on pay for NHS staff for 2021/22, we intend to look to the independent Pay Review Bodies (PRB) and we expect to issue a remit letter to the PRBs in the coming weeks. The Government will carefully consider the NHS PRB and DDRB’s recommendations when we receive them.