UK strikes news - live: Breakthrough on NHS pay and teacher talks as passport staff to walkout
Union members to vote on whether to accept the NHS pay offer in coming days and weeks
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Teaching unions and the government have agreed to hold “intensive talks” on teacher pay, conditions and workload reduction, after a breakthrough on NHS pay saw health worker strikes suspended.
The offer – backed by the Royal College of Nursing, the GMB and Unison – includes a one-off lump sum for 2022-23 that rises in value up the NHS pay bands, as well as a permanent 5 per cent rise on all pay points for 2023-24.
Union members will now vote on whether to accept the deal, with workers expected to consider the detail over the coming days and weeks.
In a further development, education unions agreed to “create a period of calm for two weeks during which time they have said no further strike dates will be announced” as they hold intensified talks with the government.
But it came as the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced that HM Passport Office staff will strike for five weeks from the start of April – potentially leaving more than one million passport applications stuck in a bottleneck of applications.
Statement in full as education unions to hold ‘intensive talks’ with government
Here is the joint statement from the government and education unions, after it was announced this morning that they would hold “intensive talks” this weekend, starting today:
“The government and the education trade unions, Association of School and College Leaders, National Association of Head Teachers, NASUWT and National Education Union, have agreed to move into a period of intensive talks. The talks will focus on teacher pay, conditions and workload reduction.
“In order for talks to begin and, we hope, reach a successful conclusion, the NEU has confirmed it will create a period of calm for two weeks during which time they have said no further strike dates will be announced.
“The education secretary and all unions will meet today, beginning intensive talks, which will continue over the weekend.”
Exclusive: Rail talks set for next week as fresh round of strikes begin
As the latest round of national rail strikes began at 14 train operators on Thursday, the leader of the RMT union Mick Lynch told The Independent said he expects talks to resume next week.
Speaking at a picket line at London Euston station, Mr Lynch indicated that the third and fourth days of industrial action, 30 March and 1 April, could be averted, saying: “We’re looking to get back around the table next week.
“We want to work up some solutions to these problems and we want to get a square deal for our people. If we can do that, the dispute will be ended.”
Exclusive: Rail talks set for next week as fresh round of strikes begin
Mick Lynch demands improvement on ‘best and final offer’ – but concedes no-strings deal may not be possible
Breakthrough NHS pay offer ‘far from perfect’ but offers’ tangible progress’, say union chiefs
Union leaders have suggested that the breakthrough NHS pay offer from the government is “far from perfect” but offers “tangible progress”.
Unison’s head of health Sara Gorton said: “It’s a shame it took so long to get here. But following days of intensive talks between the Government, unions and employers, there’s now an offer on the table for NHS staff.”
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said the government has gone from refusing to talk about pay this year to putting an extra £2.5 billion on the table.
She said the offer was “far from perfect”, but added: “GMB members should rightly be proud of themselves. It’s been a tough road but they have faced down the Department of Health and won an offer that we feel is the best that can be achieved at this stage through negotiation.”
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said: “It is not a panacea, but it is real, tangible progress.” Dr Suzanne Tyler, of the Royal College of Midwives, described it as “a good deal won by the power of collective action by unions”.
Major step towards end of NHS strikes as government and unions agree pay offer
Final offer reached after weeks of negotiations and months of strikes
NHS pay offer ‘may provide template’ for unlocking separate disputes, says union leader
The NHS pay offer “may provide a template for unlocking disputes elsewhere in the wider public sector”, Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, has suggested.
Members will be looking closely at what the government has offered and expect ministers to “pursue similar active negotiations” with them, he said – shortly before education unions and the government announced “intensive talks” would take place this weekend on their separate dispute.
New NHS pay deal would cost £4bn, says Downing Street
The new pay deal offered to striking NHS workers, including nurses and paramedics, would cost an additional £4bn, Downing Street has said.
“The non-consolidated element for 2022/23 is an additional investment of around £2.7 billion,” a No 10 spokesperson said. “The consolidated element for 2023/24 is an additional investment of around £1.3 billion.”
The spokesperson would not detail how it will be funded, with the health department to hold discussions with the Treasury.
No plans to change passport waiting times guidance, says No 10
There are no plans to change guidance on waiting times for passports despite the five-week Passport Office strikes announced today, Downing Street has said.
No 10 said that ministers would work to “mitigate” the strikes’ impact to “ensure they can still provide the vital service to the British public as you would expect ahead of the summer”.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “There are no current plans to change the guidance that people should allow up to 10 weeks to get a passport.
“The Home Office will work hard to manage the impact of this strike action to ensure they can still provide the vital service to the British public as you would expect ahead of ahead of the summer where we fully acknowledge that many people will want to get away and enjoy the summer with their family.
“So we will do everything we can to mitigate the impact of the strikes.”
Striking dentists yet to receive pay offer, union says
The British Dental Association has stressed that it has not received a pay offer despite yesterday's breakthrough – meaning it remains in dispute with the government.
Chair Eddie Crouch said: “Like our BMA colleagues working under the Junior Contract we’ve received no offer and have been party to no negotiations.”
Voices | After three months of debilitating strikes, what have we learned?
In his latest column for Independent Voices, our former political editor Andrew Grice writes:
The proposed pay settlement for 1.2 million NHS staff, including nurses and ambulance workers, is welcome but could and should have happened in early January.
Whitehall sources tell me that Steve Barclay, the health secretary, wanted a deal then like the one that has now been announced for England: a one-off payment worth 2 per cent of salary plus a bonus of at least £1,250 for the 2022-23 financial year and a permanent 5 per cent uplift for the year beginning next month. The agreement has to be accepted by union members but their leaders, with the exception of Unite, are recommending it.
Two months ago the health secretary’s move was blocked by the Treasury, and Rishi Sunak sided with Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor. “Steve Barclay could see that we would need to make a one-off cost-of-living payment for the current financial year,” one insider said. “This could have happened earlier.”
Sunak allies are trumpeting his role in last night’s breakthrough as another sign his calm, forensic, pragmatic style of government, which has momentum after genuine successes on the Northern Ireland protocol, his love-in with Emmanuel Macron and the Aukus defence pact with the US and Australia. Tory MPs hope that an end to NHS strikes will remove one sign that “Britain isn’t working,” a pervading sense some fear will cost their party the next election by underlining Labour’s “time for change” message.
But the NHS pay deal is hardly a triumph for Sunak: 140,000 operations or appointments were cancelled during the dispute and waiting lists are even longer because of his foot-dragging.
After three months of debilitating strikes, what have we learned? | Andrew Grice
The NHS pay deal is hardly a triumph for Sunak: waiting lists are even longer because of his foot-dragging, writes Andrew Grice
How will Passport Office strikes affect your travel plans?
More than one million passport applications could be stuck in a bottleneck when HM Passport Office staff strike for five weeks from the start of April in a “significant escalation” of a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions, reports our travel correspondent Simon Calder.
At peak times – including April – HM Passport Office can receive 250,000 applications per week. During the strike, Simon calculates that more than one million passport applications are likely. Some of them will be urgent cases, but it may be that the Fast Track option is closed down so available effort can be deployed on processing “normal” applications.
The Independent understands there will be no change to the guidance that travellers should allow 10 weeks between a passport application and delivery.
Panic about the prospect of long waits could trigger a surge of unnecessary applications and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
How will five-week Passport Office strike affect your travel plans?
Even the announcement of a strike by members of the PCS union will precipitate a surge in applications
NHS pay offer ‘a good deal but not a fair one’, says union negotiator
The NHS pay offer “is a good deal but not a fair one”, a lead negotiator has said.
“This is a good deal. There is significantly more money available than I thought we would be able to extract, and certainly the last time you and I spoke it felt like there was no prospect of anything,” Unison’s head of health, Sara Gorton, told LBC.
“We’re coming up to the next pay year and we thought the most likely thing to do – from the government’s point of view – was that they were going to just try and play the long game and push us into the next pay year, kind of forget all about it.”
She added: “It is a good deal but not a fair one. The way that is structured gives significantly more to the people at the top of the pay band and I guess a lot of people will look at that and say ‘well it’s a decent chunk of money but in a cost of living crisis, shouldn’t that graph look the other way round?”
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