Teachers and doctors boost as pay rises announced for public sector staff
PAY rises for hundreds of thousands of doctors, teachers and civil servants in Wales have been announced.
NHS staff, teachers and public sector workers in many devolved services will receive pay rises of between 5% and 6% in 2024-25.
The Welsh Government say it will mean the following aboveinflation pay rises:
Teachers will receive 5.5% NHS staff on Agenda for Change terms and conditions will receive 5.5%
Doctors and dentists, including GPS and salaried GPS, will receive a 6% pay award, with an additional £1,000 for junior doctors
Civil servants and for staff at a number of other public bodies, including Natural Resources Wales and the Development Bank of Wales will get an average 5%.
Pay rises will be backdated to the start of the pay year for each profession or employer, the pay year is set. For teachers, for example, it runs from September to August.
No figure for the total amount of money needed to fund these pay rises is yet available.
NHS pay rises in Wales are determined by the same pay review as England, while there is a separate pay review body for Wales in terms of teachers.
The NHS pay rises for Wales are the same as in England, and a decision was taken to match the money given to teachers in England as there is an approach in considering teachers’ pay awards in Wales that works on the principle of no detriment to Welsh teachers of any decision made by the UK Government.
Other parts of the public sector in Wales, including local government staff, fire and rescue services and social care, are not covered by the independent pay review bodies.
First Minister Eluned Morgan said: “People across Wales have told us over the summer that public sector workers are the backbone of the services we all rely on, from the nurses in our NHS to teachers in classrooms across Wales.
“They want them to be fairly rewarded for the work they do.
Dr Oba Babs-osibodu and Dr Peter Fahey co-chairs of the BMA’S Welsh Junior Doctors Committee said this announcement was a “step in the right direction to better valuing doctors and restoring our pay”.
“Whilst we will continue to fight for full pay restoration to recover the years of real terms pay cuts, today’s award does provide some further reversal of that erosion,” they said.
Dr Stephen Kelly, chair of the BMA’S Welsh Consultants Committee said: “Thanks to weeks of negotiations with the Welsh Government we were able to reach a fairer settlement, and whilst it didn’t fully restore the real terms pay lost over the last 15 years, today’s announcement of a 6% pay uplift brings us another step closer to achieving this goal.”
Both said they would put the proposal to their members.
Laura Doel, national secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, said: “We will be examining the detail with a microscopic lens to ensure all costs are covered for all schools, not just average costs.
“This is crucial at a time when so many school leaders are already suffering sleepless nights worrying about how they can set balanced budgets, with some facing the completely unpalatable prospect of making valued staff redundant.”
GMB union senior organiser Tom Hoyles, GMB Senior Organiser, said: “To see First Minister Eluned prioritising a pay deal for public services so early in her tenure is a great sign.”