Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to offer a higher pay award for nurses in 2022-23 than that recommended by the NHS Pay Review Body in its Thirty-Fifth Report, published in July 2022.

The Government accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body in full for the 2022/23 financial year and have given over 1 million non-medical National Health Service workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 (pro-rated) this financial year. That’s the equivalent of around 4 to 5% pay rises for most nurses. This is on top of a 3% pay rise the previous year when most public sector pay was frozen and wider Government support to help with the cost of living.

The Government is focused on the current pay review process which will determine awards for 2023/24, but we also recognise that these are challenging times for everyone, caused by global economic factors. We want to strike the right balance between what is fair for public sector workers and what the taxpayer can afford.