Wes Streeting issues 'don't strike' appeal to NHS staff before crunch union talks

Wes Streeting has started crunch talks with unions and issued a direct appeal to NHS staff to reject strikes.

Inflation has since swallowed up any real terms increase for 2025/26 and unions are demanding urgent reforms to boost working conditions and speed up career progression to avoid walkouts.

The Health Secretary met with the ambulance workers’ union yesterday after the bulk of the NHS workforce rejected a 3.6% pay rise. GMB negotiators came out saying talks had been "positive" but warned other NHS staff "need to be invested in - not just the doctors". Other NHS unions have been angered after resident doctors, who staged a five-day strike last month, got a 5.4% deal.

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Speaking to the Mirror, Mr Streeting said: “I’ve spent a lot of time shadowing ambulance crews on the frontline and they’ve got a really challenging job. I know that crews are concerned about their pay, conditions and career progression.

“I'm absolutely committed to working constructively with the trade unions. The advantage of having a Labour government is that we work constructively on our industrial relations. We want a genuine partnership with a workforce. We don't want to be at loggerheads in the way that our conservative predecessors were and it does require a bit of give and take.”

The Treasury has said it cannot improve on the headline pay deal but Mr Streeting is starting a period of intense negotiations with health unions in an attempt to offer them enough other perks to stop them striking later this year. Unions also want commitments to above inflation deals over the rest of the parliament.

It comes as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation is 3.6% and the Retail Price Index (RPI) measure - which includes mortgage costs - is 4.4%.

Unions representing most workers on the main NHS contract - Unison, the Royal College of Nursing, Unite and GMB - have opposed this year’s 3.6% pay award. Resident doctors were awarded 5.4% and their union, the British Medical Association (BMA), had already balloted for strikes and has a mandate for doctors to stage walk-outs until January.

Mr Streeting has since met the Royal College of Nursing and joked yesterday during a visit to University College Hospital in north London that General Secretary Nicola Ranger had been "banging my head" on issues around career progression and pay. He will meet the Unite union in the next fortnight.

Mr Streeting said: “One of the things I have been saying to the doctors is, ‘I've got to make sure that their careers in the NHS improve, but I've got a responsibility to other NHS staff too’. I've got a responsibility to the whole 1.5 million strong workforce.

“So we’ve been having good discussions, not just with the BMA, but more constructively with the Royal College of Nursing, Unison, GMB, who I’ll meet today, and soon with Unite. I do want to work constructively with the trade unions, because I genuinely think if we improve the conditions, the recruitment, the retention of staff, we’ll be improving the lives of patients.

“Because the Labour government is putting in place the resources and the reform the NHS needs, but we can't do it alone. I'm relying on 1.5 million brilliant people who work in the NHS.”

It came on the day Mr Streeting announced a "graduate guarantee" for nurses and midwives helping them get a job after they get qualified. NHS providers will be able to begin recruiting before vacancies formally arise, based on demand projections, to stop a situation where many newly qualified nurses can’t get a job.

NHS staff on the main Agenda for Change contract - which excludes doctors and dentists - have been awarded a 3.6% increase for 2025/26. This uplift was recommended by the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) based on evidence submitted by the government, employers and unions. However unions have questioned the impartiality of the pay review body.

The GMB is looking for a commitment to restore real-terms pay lost during 15 years over Tory rule over the next two parliaments. They are calling for ambulance workers to get a similar early retirement age to other first-responders, police and firefighters. The union is calling for lower paid hospital staff to have their salaries increased to the UK Living Wage and says all NHS staff must be exempt from hospital parking charges.

Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: “We had a positive meeting with the Health Secretary today. We raised issues from the frontline - members feeling undervalued and demoralised.

“GMB priorities are restorative pay and we need to see Government commit to this. There are fixes that Government can do now to help workers on the ground feel the changes. Agenda for Change staff need to be invested in, not just the doctors. Wes said they are looking to invest in the Agenda for Change contract reforms and seeing where more money can be found for this.”