NHS nurses who are members of the union Unite are to be asked whether they would be prepared to take industrial action over the 2025/26 pay award in England and Wales.
Unite has urged NHS members in England and Wales to reject the 3.6% Agenda for Change pay rise in ballots set to open this month.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the uplift was an ‘insult to NHS staff’ and would do ‘nothing to address low pay’ within the health service.
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The governments in England and Wales announced last month that they had accepted the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies for NHS staff and for GPs and doctors.
NHS nurses on Agenda for Change contracts in will receive a 3.6% award for 2025/26 in August, backdated to April.
The situation is more complex for general practice nursing staff – leading to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) criticising ministers for a lack of ‘clear message’ on what they will receive.
Unite has said the award for those in the NHS in England and Wales is ‘substandard’ and lower than that given to doctors, and NHS colleagues in Scotland.
As well as being urged to reject the award, Unite members will also be asked whether they would be prepared to take strike action over the situation.
Ms Graham said: ‘The NHS is suffering a huge staffing crisis, thousands are leaving the service and those who remain are pushed to breaking point.
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‘Yet the government’s answer is a substandard award that is below inflation and is an insult to NHS staff.
‘This offer does nothing to address low pay in the NHS which hovers perilously close to the legal minimum. How can this possibly be fair or begin to improve staffing in the NHS?’
Unite national officer for health, Richard Munn, added: ‘The government needs to get the health unions around the negotiating table and come back with an improved award or they will witness the anger of our members.’
The union will open a ballot for NHS members in Wales on 9 June and for those in England on the 16 June.
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Should staff reject the award and vote for industrial action, Unite said it will announce dates and locations in due course.
The Department of Health and Social Care was approached for comment.
