When will the NHS pay rise for 2024 happen?

Most NHS pay is governed by the Agenda for Change (AfC) contract, which separates pay into a number of pay bands.

The rates of pay on Agenda for Change are reviewed on a yearly basis by the government, which usually means that there is a pay rise agreed for each year.

In theory this pay rise should be applied for the start of the tax year in April. However, in practice, the complex process of agreeing and implementing a pay rise for hundreds of thousands of staff often means that pay rises end up having to be backdated to cover the period between April and whenever changes in pay are actually implemented by NHS finance teams. The NHS pay rise has only been agreed twice before April in the past 5 years.

This year, the new pay award for those on Agenda for Change was announced by the government on 29 July as part of a group of public sector pay deals. You can see what the 5.5% pay rise means for your pay band here.

Will the NHS pay rise for 2024 be backdated?

Yes. When the new pay deal is implemented, it will include additional pay due for April, May, June, July and August. This could mean you will receive a significant lump sum of additional pay with your first paycheque under the new pay deal. This could amount to several hundred pounds, or even thousands for those on the highest pay bands.

When will I get the NHS pay rise for 2024?

The NHS pay rise was announced in late July 2024. It usually takes about a month from announcement of the yearly pay deal for all of the detail of the pay deal to emerge and NHS finance teams to update their payroll.

However, this year NHS Employers have advised that the pay rise is likely not to be reflected until October’s pay. It is unclear why pay will be delayed so long – the hold up may be related to the larger than expected pay rise; most NHS organisations were budgeting for a rise of about 3%.

How was the NHS pay rise for 2024 decided?

To try and protect the NHS pay rise from becoming tied up in political debate, the government asks the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) to provide recommendations on what it thinks is both affordable for the NHS and fair for NHS staff. The Pay Review Body is normally made up of economists, HR experts and people who have held senior trade union roles in the past. Board members are appointed by the government.

The recommendations provided by the PRB take the form of a lengthy report including highly detailed recommendations on pay and related matters and evidence from trade unions, other industry bodies and the Treasury – you can read previous reports on the PRB website.

Why did my NHS pay increase in April 2024?

Most NHS staff will have a small increase in their take home pay from April 2024 onwards. This is not a result of a new NHS pay deal; the increase is because the government has reduced National Insurance contributions. This means that most staff will take home more of their pay after tax. For most staff this will be an increase of between £25-£100 in the amount that reaches their bank account.