2.5% pay deal won for all non-medical NHS staff

UNISON Scotland has welcomed the agreement that the one year pay deal for NHS non-medical staff will apply to all Scottish staff whether or not they had been assimilated to the new 'Agenda for Change'(A4C) salary scales.

The original proposal was to apply the 2.5% raise for 2006/7 to the new salaries only - on the basis that staff would either be on the new rates or would get the rise when they assimilated. UNISON raised the specific problem in Scotland where A4C had not yet been brought in as widely as in England and negotiated a 'payment on account' to staff who were not yet on the new scales.

Glyn Hawker, Scottish Organiser for Health, said, "UNISON raised this as a specific Scottish solution to a Scottish problem. We are delighted to be able to announce our success in ensuring that all NHS non-medical staff in Scotland will now receive the raise."

The 'payment on account' will be paid as a separate amount from 1 April until people are assimilated onto the new pay scales. It will not apply for calculating overtime or other additional payments. The new A4C scales will have already had the raise.

Lilian Macer, UNISON's Scottish Lead Negotiator in Health said "It is important that people are treated fairly. To have people doing the same jobs as others in different parts of Scotland but not being paid the same pay would have been divisive. That is why UNISON took on this aim."

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