Today, I am announcing that from April 2026, over 1.4 million NHS staff on Agenda for Change terms and conditions will receive a 3.3% pay rise.
The uplift is above the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast inflation of 2.2% for 2026-27, delivering a real terms pay rise for NHS staff.
It will be in pay packets from April for the first time in six years. We have listened to the workforce and understand the difficulties they face when pay awards are not delivered on time. That’s why this Government committed to speeding up the pay review process, remitting the pay review bodies months earlier than previous years, and submitting written evidence earlier too.
In making this award, I am accepting in full the recommendation from the NHS Pay Review Body for 2026-27. Their report recognises the vital contribution that NHS staff make to our country.
This award is above the Government’s affordability position set out in their evidence to the NHSPRB. As we are delivering the pay round much earlier this year, announcing now in February, the business planning process for the Department of Health and Social Care and its arm’s length bodies is under way. The existing challenging productivity and efficiency commitments required by ICBs and providers to deliver breakeven positions are the foundations of the Government’s ability to fund this within the existing settlement. This additional pressure above affordability will be managed by DHSC and ALBs (including NHSE central budgets) but none of the pay increases will be paid for by cutting frontline services.
As part of the overall AfC pay package for 2026-27, we will progress talks with trade unions and employers at pace, through the NHS Staff Council, to agree and implement funded improvements to the AfC pay structure. These talks will build upon discussions held to date exploring the feasibility of multi-year arrangements, and separate funding will be made available for these reforms as committed to in response to the 2025-26 PRB recommendation on pay structure reform. Once agreed, the reforms will deliver additional pay increases for some staff that will be effective from, and backdated to, 1 April 2026. Our priorities will be to improve pay for those on the lowest pay bands in support of the Government’s commitment to “make work pay” and to improve pay for graduates across all professions. This will recognise and build on the work of the staff council to identify its priorities.
We will continue to implement commitments to improve the support NHS staff receive and their experience at work, as well as improving nursing career progression, investing in job evaluation to ensure that all staff are paid fairly for the work they are asked to do, and supporting newly qualified staff. Improving the experience of work for all staff, ensuring the NHS is a great place to work, is fundamental to improving the patient experience: from reducing the backlog in elective care, to ensuring timely access to GP appointments.
The NHSPRB report will be presented to Parliament and published on gov.uk
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