Mark Drakeford, Minister for Health and Social Services
This was published under the 2011 to 2016 administration of the Welsh Government
The Welsh Government provided a remit to the NHS Pay Review Body and to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) about pay for NHS staff employed on Agenda for Change terms and conditions; doctors and dentists, respectively.
I am grateful to the pay review bodies for their recommendations and observations. After carefully considering their proposals, I have accepted the following recommendations for 2016-17.
For Agenda for Change staff employed by the NHS in Wales, I have accepted the recommendation of a 1% consolidated uplift to all pay scales from 1 April 2016.
I remain committed to tackling the issue of low pay in Wales and will ensure the lowest earners in NHS Wales are paid a fair salary, as recommended by the Living Wage Foundation.
I am therefore implementing the uplift to the living wage – to £8.25 an hour – for all directly-employed NHS staff from 1 January 2016. Going forward, any further uplifts to the living wage will be aligned to the NHS pay award date in April.
For salaried doctors and dentists, a 1% consolidated increase will be applied to all pay scales from 1 April 2016. A 1% increase will be applied to the value of clinical excellence awards; a 1% increase will be applied to the value of commitment awards and a 1% increase to the value of the GP trainers’ grant, in line with the DDRB recommendations.
In addition, doctors and dentists who received a 2% non-consolidated payment in 2015-16, and who have not since moved onto a new pay scale point, will also receive a non-consolidated payment, equivalent to 1% of their basic earnings.
For salaried GPs the minimum and maximum of the salary range will be increased by 1%.
For GPs, I have accepted the DDRB’s recommendation to uplift pay, net of expenses, by 1% for 2016-17. I have therefore decided GPs in Wales will receive an overall uplift of 2.2% for pay and expenses on a similar basis to that in England.
This includes an increase in the Quality and Outcomes Framework to recognise population growth and funding to cover the cost of rising business expenses, including increased costs of employers superannuation, National Insurance contributions and professional indemnity insurance.
Dentists’ pay will increase by 1%, net of expenses. After applying in full the latest data to allow for practice costs and other expenses and, using the same formula approach as previous years, the value of dental contracts will increase by 1.1%.
The review bodies have not been asked to provide a recommendation in respect of senior executives’ pay and, at this time, no adjustment will be made to the current salary ranges.
This pay award demonstrates our ongoing commitment to staff working in the NHS in Wales in these challenging financial times. Our priority continues to be to work in partnership with staff representatives and trade unions to provide fair and equitable pay arrangements across the Welsh NHS.