Nurses and teachers get above inflation pay rise

More than a hundred thousand public sector workers in Wales will get above inflation pay rises back-dated to April, the Welsh government has announced.

Nurses, other NHS staff and teachers will get a 5.5% rise, while doctors and dentists will receive 6%, all in line with England.

But unions criticised how late the pay announcement for this financial year was made - one accused the government of leaving teachers in "limbo".

First Minister Eluned Morgan said the plans - worth £500m - had taken longer to announce "because we needed to be sure that we can afford this".

Officials are confident they will get extra cash from the UK government to pay for the rises.

The first minister told BBC Wales: "I have been on a listening exercise throughout Wales over the summer, and time and time again people have told us to respect and look after our public services.

"In order to do that, we've got to appreciate that it's the people who work in those services that need to be supported."

The Welsh government said it was accepting the recommendations of independent pay bodies in full for 2024-25.

Junior doctors will also get an additional £1,000, and there will be an average pay award of 5% at a number of other public bodies, including Natural Resources Wales and the Development Bank of Wales.

Officials said the teachers award was higher than the 4.3% that had been recommended by Wales' independent body for assessing pay.

On the basis that there should be no detriment to Welsh teachers from decisions made by the UK government, the body's recommendation was rejected with 5.5% implemented instead.

The awards will need to be approved by the trade unions, some of which have been in dispute with the Welsh government in recent years. A four-week consultation will now start on teacher's pay.

The current rate of inflation - which measures how much consumer prices rise - stands at 2.2%.

It comes after the UK government approved the recommendations of public sector pay bodies in the summer.

The Welsh government gets most of its money from the UK government. Officials are confident they will get cash off the back of extra funding for pay in England, helping to avoid cuts to funding elsewhere as a result.

In her interview with the BBC, the first minister added: "It's not an insignificant amount of money. We're talking about £500m. Most of that will come as a result of UK government handing that money over to us.

"We've said we will keep that as a ring fence to pay these additional sums."

She said the cash to pay for the rises will not be coming from existing budgets.

"We've taken the summer just to bolt everything down, just to make sure that we can afford this, and that's why we've taken perhaps a little longer than some people had hoped."

Journalists were told on Tuesday that enough is known about what the Treasury might have to give UK government departments to make an estimate of what Wales was going to get.

Extra cash will be used to fund the difference between what pay was initially expected to rise by - 3.5% - and the now planned increases.

Unison, which represents NHS staff, said the delay to the deal was "disappointing".

“The wage rise for this year was due on 1 April. That was five months ago," Unison health head Tanya Bull said.

"The system for determining pay awards for NHS workers in Wales needs to change to make sure they're not in this position again next year."

Teachers union NASUWT also complained, accusing the Welsh government of leaving teachers in limbo.

While welcoming the proposal, the union's Neil Butler said: “The Welsh government has known about the teachers’ pay award in England since the end of July and has been in possession of the [pay board] report for even longer.

"Teachers in Wales will wonder why there has been this long delay, particularly as they have been offered the same pay uplift as teachers in England."

TUC Cymru general secretary Shavanah Taj said: "Progress on public sector pay is strongly welcomed, as is the fact that these pay awards are above inflation and match what was offered by the UK government to workers in England."

But reflecting on the lateness of the award, she added: "We have stressed to government how important it is to avoid a delay like this in future."

The news was given a cautious welcome by the headteachers' union, NAHT Cymru.

Its national secretary, Laura Doel, said: “While we understand the award will be fully-funded, we will be examining the detail with a microscopic lens to ensure all costs are covered for all schools, not just average costs."

She criticised the 4.3% proposed by the Welsh pay body. “It would have been hugely damaging and demoralising for our members to be seen as being somehow worth less than their counterparts in England," Ms Doel added.

BMA Cymru Wales, which represents doctors, broadly welcomed the rise for junior doctors, consultants and specialists.

It said the announcement provided "further reversal" of pay erosion for junior doctors.

However it said pay rises for GPs "cannot be realised" until contract negotiations begin, which it said the Welsh government had delayed.

Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Welsh Parliament, Andrew RT Davies, said: “It's clearly in the UK's national interest to end these strikes, but Labour ministers in the Senedd allowed them to drag on. Unlike Labour ministers in the Senedd, Welsh Conservatives will never prioritise vanity projects that distract from our public services."

Plaid Cymru's Heledd Fychan added: "We're clear that public sector workers in Wales should not have to wait for announcements in England before receiving improved pay offers.

"That's why we urgently need a fair funding model to end Wales' dependency on political decisions made over the border."