Government recommends 2.5% pay rise for nurses next year

The government has planned for a 2.5% pay rise for nurses working in general practice and in the NHS for the next financial year.

In its submission to the pay review bodies for general practice and NHS staff, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that should a pay award be recommended above 2.5%, it would need to consider ‘whether and how this could be made affordable’ from existing budgets.

‘Accepting such an award would inevitably have an impact on healthcare delivery,’ it said in a letter published on Thursday.

The Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) and the NHS Pay Review Body are taking evidence ahead of recommendations to the government on 2026/27 pay uplifts.

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While the DDRB provides recommendations for salaried GPs, the government said its funding typically given to support GP pay rises is also intended to allow contractors to implement pay rises for other salaried general practice staff, including practice nurses.

In its submission to the DDRB this year, the government said: ‘Recommendations will need to be informed by affordability and the contract resources available to practices.

‘This information will also inform GP practice decisions about the pay of their salaried GPs and other practice staff.’

Recent years have seen serious concerns around a lack of annual pay uplifts for general practice nurses (GPNs) because funding for their pay and conditions is not ringfenced.

In July, a Nursing in Practice survey of almost 500 UK general practice nursing staff found that more than half (54.5%) had not yet heard anything at all from their employer about a salary uplift for 2025/26 – despite news of a 4% pay rise being announced two months prior.

Separately, nurses employed to work in GP practices via the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) typically see their pay linked to the recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body for Agenda for Change staff.

In its submissions to both pay review bodies on Thursday, the government said: ‘DHSC have developed financial and delivery plans which currently allow for a pay uplift of 2.5% without having to make trade-offs against headline government health commitments.

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‘Should the independent pay review bodies recommend an award above this level, we would need to consider whether and how this could be made affordable from within existing DHSC budgets.’

The DHSC said it was ‘already managing a wide set of material financial risks including industrial action costs and other demand pressures on the NHS’.

It stressed that pay of NHS staff was a ‘significant material pressure’ and that anything above its pay plans would ‘require difficult trade-offs for the government’.

‘These trade-offs could include reduction in ambitions for service or performance improvement (for example, additional investment in digital and technology to support productivity improvements in future years),’ it said.

‘As staffing costs are the largest single area of NHS expenditure, it is likely that higher pay awards will affect the ability for the NHS to afford to maintain or expand staffing levels.’

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In the summer, the government told Nursing in Practice that a new GP Contract promised by 2028 ‘could address’ practice nurse pay and conditions.

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