Trade union brands talks with Health Secretary an ‘insult’ amid pay dispute

Earlier, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was "happy to talk about pay" with unions as ministers held a series of meetings aimed at ending a wave of industrial unrest in the NHS and on the rail network.

However, both the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Unite criticised the meeting, accusing ministers of "intransigence".

The outcome of the talks is likely to have significant implications for health service workers in Northern Ireland, with any pay award agreed nationally set to play a role in the outcome of the industrial dispute involving trade unions here.

The RCN is set to strike later this month in England and, while no dates have yet been announced by the nursing union for further strike action in Northern Ireland, its dispute remains ongoing.

The Nipsa trade union has, however, already announced its intention to take strike action this month while the Unison trade union has confirmed it is exploring the possibility of a strike in late January.

Joanne Galbraith-Marten, director of employment relations and legal services at the RCN, said in a statement: "There is no resolution to our dispute yet in sight.

"Today's meeting was bitterly disappointing - nothing for the current year and repeating that 'the budget is already set' for next year.

"This intransigence is letting patients down. Ministers have a distance to travel to avert next week's nurse strike."

Unite said any suggestion that a one-off pay reward could be made in exchange for a boost in productivity was "absolutely ludicrous".

While other trade unions said that "progress" had been made, there was no indication that enough had been made for planned strikes to be called off.

Unite negotiator Onay Kasab, speaking after a meeting with Health Secretary Steve Barclay, accused the Government of telling staff they would need to "justify" a payment through productivity.

"This isn't a factory we're talking about, we're talking about people who are working well beyond their contracted hours anyway just to get the job done because they care so much.

"So, for the Government to be talking about productivity in exchange for a (payment) is an insult to every single one of our members."

Mr Sunak had earlier not denied suggestions the Government was considering a one-off payment to help NHS staff deal with the soaring cost of living, but said any pay settlement would have to be affordable and not further increase inflation.

Alongside talks with health unions, teaching unions were holding talks with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan ahead of announcements this week over whether their members will go on strike.

Rail minister Huw Merriman called in train workers after sustained action crippled services, with only one in five trains running between Tuesday and Saturday.

Mr Kasab said: "I emphasise the thing to get out of today that is absolutely clear is that they want our members to give more in order for it to consider a payment. That is absolutely outrageous."

He said there had been no "detailed" discussion of what a pay settlement might look like, adding that the talks had left him "very angry".

He added: "The Government have missed yet another opportunity. We came here in good faith."

Sara Gorton, head of health at Unison, told reporters that "progress" had been made but said there had been no "tangible" concessions.

"It was a very civil meeting. We did actually manage to talk about pay - we didn't get the tangible concessions that we might have hoped for that would enable us to call off the strikes later this week."

The Government had previously refused to discuss wages for nurses and other public-sector workers, insisting those were matters for the independent pay review bodies, but over the weekend Mr Sunak hinted at movement.

On Monday, Mr Sunak declined to get into the "specifics" of the Government's approach but said that he was "really pleased that union leaders accepted ministers' invitations.