Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the pay differential between junior doctors and Agenda for Change staff following his Department's recent pay offer to junior doctors.

The different roles and responsibilities of junior doctors, compared to Agenda for Change (AfC) staff, makes it difficult to draw a simple comparison. Junior doctor pay scales cover a wide range of experience, from new medical graduates, to those about to qualify as consultants. The AfC pay scales cover a diverse range of roles and experiences, including porters, cleaners, nurses, paramedics, and managers. The NHS Job Evaluation Scheme is used to determine the pay bands for all posts under AfC terms and conditions.

Outside of multi-year pay deals, pay tends to be set through the independent Pay Review Body (PRB) process. The NHS PRB covers AfC staff, and the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration covers medical staff, including junior doctors. This process involves an independent panel who make recommendations based on their terms of reference and the evidence they receive. As part of this they consider a wide range of factors, including morale, and recruitment and retention, to generate appropriate pay values by workforce, before recommending these to the Government. The Government has accepted the pay recommendations from both PRBs for 2024/25.

During the exceptional recent period of industrial action in the National Health Service, bespoke negotiations have taken place outside of the PRB process to address specific concerns. However, a significant part of the overall offer to junior doctors has come from accepting the independent PRB recommendation.