Unison, the BMA, Unite and the NEU have all said a 2.8% pay rise next year isn’t enough

Trade unions have criticised the government’s proposals to increase public sector workers’ pay by 2.8% next year, warning that it will go down badly with staff and fail to tackle the recruitment crisis in public services.

Government departments have recommended a 2.8% pay rise for public sector workers, including teachers, NHS workers, and civil servants in 2025/26, which is only slightly above the Office for Budget Responsibility’s inflation forecast of 2.6% for that period. 

In its evidence to public sector pay review bodies, the Treasury said that budgets for 2025/26 have now been fixed, and that “unlike in recent years, departments will not be given additional funding for pay awards”.

Unison has said that the government’s recommended pay increase will “go down badly with staff” and warned that ongoing problems with NHS pay scales could lead to more strikes. 

Head of health at Unison, Helga Pile, said: “Staff are crucial in turning around the fortunes of the NHS. 

“Improving performance is a key government pledge, but the pay rise proposed is barely above the cost of living.”

Pile added that the Agenda for Change pay scale, which has been in place since 2004, is “outdated” and has led to “lots of local strikes”.

“The decision to push tackling the outdated pay structure back into next year means there could well be more [strikes],” she said.

Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said that “this latest below inflation pay recommendation is an insult to dedicated NHS staff and further evidence that the pay review body is broken beyond repair.”

Graham said that Unite has consistently argued that NHS pay concerns must be resolved directly through negotiations with the government, rather than through pay review bodies. 

The National Education Union’s general secretary, Daniel Kebede, said the proposed pay deal “won’t do”. 

Kebede said that a 2.8% increase is likely to be below inflation and behind wage increases in the wider economy, which he argued will deepen the crisis in the education sector. 

He said that “teacher pay has been cut by over a fifth in real terms since 2010, hitting teacher living standards and damaging the competitive position of teaching against other graduate professions”.

Kebede said that “instead of continuing with failed Conservative austerity”, the government needs to fully fund pay increases that are needed to recruit and retain teachers.

He added: “We are putting the Government on notice. Our members care deeply about education and feel the depth of the crisis. This won’t do.”  

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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