Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to restructure the most junior Agenda for Change pay bands to (a) pay the living wage and (b) maintain pay differentials.

It is the Government’s policy that employees should be paid at least the statutory National Living Wage (NLW) introduced in April 2016 and this is the case for all National Health Service staff. NHS trades unions and NHS Employers continue to work in partnership to consider the impact of the NLW on the lowest pay bands within the Agenda for Change pay structure to ensure that staff continue to receive equal pay for work of equal value.

Based on the current Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts, the NLW is unlikely to affect Agenda for Change staff in 2018/19 or 2019/20.