Unions welcome Mike Nesbitt's health pay announcement - but say UK parity should never have been broken
Northern Ireland’s healthcare unions have welcomed Mike Nesbitt’s announcement that pay parity with NHS counterparts in the rest of the UK has been restored – but criticised the fact that it was broken in the first place.
The health minister announced this week that the rise will be backdated in full to 1 April 2025 – and will be given to workers in their February pay.
Mr Nesbitt says future pay awards will be prioritised in his budget allocation at the start of each financial year “and adjusted as necessary to ensure parity”.
The plans were approved by the Executive on Thursday, after ministers agreed that the Department of Health could overspend by £100m, despite a recent warning from the finance minister about departments overspending.
A joint statement from healthcare unions said it was a move in the right direction, but warned that the “commitment to pay parity must be honoured”.
“We will now need detailed discussions with the Minister and officials on next steps following this movement on funding.
“We remain very mindful that the movement on funding has happened after the link to pay parity has already been broken and after several unions expressed their intention to ballot members for industrial action.
“Unacceptable delays in addressing pay that have been repeatedly experienced over recent years must be dealt with moving forwards.
“We are also very mindful of the particularly difficult position faced by the lowest paid within our health service, with many paid the minimum wage. We will continue to press the case that low pay must be comprehensively dealt with through actions such as the health service moving towards the real Living Wage”, the statement on behalf of Unison, RCN, NIPSA and Unite said.
DUP health spokesperson Diane Dodds has criticised the minister’s inability “to prioritise resources from within his own departmental budget for staff pay” – calling that “regrettable”.
“It is only through the collective leadership of the Executive that this award has been delivered”, she said.
He had faced criticism from other parties for not factoring in pay rises at the start of the year.