06 December 2002
Last week, Alan Milburn hailed the conclusion of the Agenda for Change negotiations, an initiative that will simplify and modernise NHS pay. The health secretary said the deal, which has taken four years to negotiate, would also increase NHS productivity and introduce incentives for nurses and other staff to take on extra responsibilities.
The offer, which covers all staff except doctors, dentists and senior managers, has two main elements – a three-year pay deal worth 10% and a job evaluation exercise that is likely to increase the pay of many NHS workers. It is believed the three-year deal will cost £1.8bn, while the job evaluation will add £1.5bn over five years.
Overall, the Department of Health believes the initiative will lead to an average 12.5% increase in pay. If agreed in time, 12 sites are due to pilot the scheme next spring, with full implementation in October 2004.
Milburn said: 'Agenda for Change will bring the most radical modernisation of the NHS pay system since 1948. It is about paying more to get more, so staff who take on new responsibilities get extra rewards. Agenda for Change proves that negotiation works.'
However, Unison felt the announcement, made during the firefighters' eight-day strike, was an attempt to undermine the Fire Brigades Union. Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: 'If the government believes that we will talk about modernisation while our brothers and sisters in the FBU are being starved into submission, they have another think coming.'
Unison will also delay a ballot until after it has debated the offer at its annual health conference in early April, calling into question the health secretary's timetable.
The Royal College of Nursing was less militant, although it said it would not consult its members until full details of the package were published in January.
There is also no end in sight to the dispute over the new consultants' contract, which was rejected in England and Wales last month, as talks ended in deadlock.
Milburn has now told British Medical Association representatives that he will not renegotiate the deal and would allow trusts to offer the new contract to consultants piecemeal.
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