This comes after the final two members of the Agenda for Change Unions – Prospect and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), which represent scientists, engineers, other essential health workers, and birth specialists respectively – agreed to P&R’s terms.
Those workers follow the decision of other ‘Agenda for Change’ unions who have accepted the States’ pay offer for 2022-2024, including the Royal College of Nursing and Unite which recently showed support in new ballots.
In the background, the Policy & Resources Committee – which is responsible for public employee relations – said it would carry out a year-long pay review to see if more parity could be achieved should all unions accept the offer. That has now been triggered.
In a statement issued today, Kate Brown, Deputy Industrial Disputes Officer, confirmed that the pay award had been accepted.
“We expect this to be very welcome news for employees, bringing the ongoing uncertainty to an end and ensuring they will receive a deserved pay increase, which recognises the incredibly important contribution made by the people working in health and social care services,” she said.
Pictured: The States of Guernsey had repeatedly refused to change the terms of its pay offer.
The pay award offered to public sector workers, and accepted by health workers, is as follows.
- 2022: A 5% uplift to salaries, plus a sum of £500 which will be consolidated into pay scales and will therefore be permanent and pensionable, backdated to 1 January 2022 (the RPIX figure on 30 June 2021 was 2.3%).
- 2023: An uplift equal to RPIX as at 30 June 2022, which was 7%.
- 2024: An uplift equal to RPIX as at 30 June 2023, minus 1%. (In the event that RPIX falls below 1%, the employer will not seek to implement a pay cut and the award that year will be zero).
All public sector workers bar some teaching unions have now accepted the offer, with P&R now more unlikely than ever to renegotiate the offer for those who are yet to accept.