NHS Staff Win Battle Over 2.5% Deal

Scottish ministers abruptly caved in to the pay demands of nurses and other NHS staff yesterday, prompting a call by angry health service unions south of the border for Westminster to follow suit.

Unlike their counterparts in England and Wales, health workers in Scotland will now get the full 2.5% recommended by the NHS pay review body rather than the phased implementation which Chancellor Gordon Brown insisted a fortnight ago was required to “maintain discipline and stability”.

Liberal Democrat ministers appear to have played no part in a decision which was never ratified by full cabinet, although they have since embraced it.

It emerged last night that Jack McConnell wrote to the Treasury in advance of the Chancellor’s decision on staging the award to say Scottish ministers opposed this and had budgeted to pay the full settlement upfront.

Paying the full award upfront, rather than 1.5% now and another 1% later in the year, will cost the Scottish purse £18.7m, which is said to be affordable within the existing health budget. But whether the precedent set and the differential created between staff north and south of the border will be seen as acceptable by the Treasury is another matter.

It refused to be drawn on the Scottish settlement, insisting it was a matter for the Scottish Executive but Unison, the biggest health service workers’ union, called for the settlement to be extended throughout the UK.

Karen Jennings, Unison’s head of health, said: “Nurses and health professionals must have fair and equal treatment across the UK. Congratulations to Andy Kerr for giving nurses and other health professionals in Scotland their due. This decision should shame MPs in Westminster into taking action over the shabby way our nurses and health workers are being treated by the government in this pay round.”

There are 92,000 NHS staff in Scotland, of whom 67,000 are nurses. A nurse earning £30,500 getting the full 2.5% rise up-front rather than in two phases will get an extra £183 over the year, ending up on £32,000. Starting salaries would rise from £19,200 to £19,700, giving an extra £115 north of the border.

The U-turn came out of the blue yesterday but was choreographed by Labour, with LibDems kept firmly out of the loop. Jack McConnell made the announcement during a live radio interview, while his Health Minister, Andy Kerr, mirrored the announcement during a Royal College of Nursing conference at Our Dynamic Earth, close to the parliament.

The First Minister’s official spokesman made no mention of it at a morning media briefing, where he said Mr Kerr seemed to be appearing at the RCN “in a party capacity” as it did not appear on the ministerial list of events.

Then as the First Minister was letting the news slip on radio the public sector union Unison issued a statement welcoming the climb-down, before Mr Kerr had even made the formal announcement. The executive health department explained the confusion at that point, saying: “It was something that was decided on very quickly.”

It was admitted later by an executive spokesman that the decision had been reached by three Labour ministers, First Minister McConnell, Health Minister Kerr and Finance Minister Tom McCabe, with the LibDem Deputy First Minister, Nicol Stephen only informed once it had been agreed to go ahead with the announcement.

A senior aide to the First Minister said Mr McConnell had flagged up to the Treasury before the original announcement about phasing the award two weeks ago that he would prefer an up-front award.

But this made it all the more odd that Mr Kerr had been so fulsome in echoing Gordon Brown on March 1, saying: “Today’s announcements of pay awards across the public sector strike a balance between fairness and discipline in the fight against inflation. We have aimed to ensure that they are affordable within existing spending limits and consistent with continuing control of public finances.”

An executive spokesman said this was “in the nature of a holding statement” and Scottish ministers had taken “time to reflect” since then before deciding to press ahead with full implementation on the grounds of the “huge contribution to the success” of the NHS by its staff.

Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the RCN, said “our members welcome and applaud” the decision, adding: “Scotland’s executive is also setting an example that the government in Westminster should follow as a matter of urgency.” Glyn Hawker, Scots health organiser of Unison, said: “We are delighted that our strong lobbying has borne fruit. The minister has listened to health workers’ concerns which reflects the more effective and co-operative nature of the NHS in Scotland.”

The other parties mixed their welcome for the announcement with derision for how it had emerged. Shona Robison, the SNP’s health spokeswoman said it was the right decision but added: “This shows that Labour in Scotland is now making policy announcements on the hoof. Less than two weeks ago the health minister stated that such a deal was impossible, yet today he has suddenly caved in under increasing pressure.”

Dr Nanette Milne, Scottish Conservative health spokesman, also welcomed the news but said: “Naturally, health workers won’t be interested in the wider politics of the situation – and why should they? – but we have to wonder whether this climbdown would have happened if there wasn’t an election looming.”