Healthcare assistants (HCAs) and other support workers, some of the lowest paid workers in the NHS, have continued their campaign to be properly paid for working beyond their pay grade, with a new wave of strike action through the summer months.
At Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust more than 350 nursing assistants took part in strikes at the beginning of August and at the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust, health care assistants (HCAs) at three hospitals began a 26-day strike on Monday 5th August, which runs until the end of August. In the South West a dispute continues at the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, and at the end of July maternity support workers in Grimsby began a 48-hour strike.
The strikes are part of UNISON’s campaign for fair pay for support workers – #PayFairforPatientCare – which began in the North West some years ago.
The UNISON campaign revolves around the re-banding of HCAs on salary band 2, which according to the NHS’s Agenda for Change pay scale should only be providing personal care, such as bathing and feeding patients.
UNISON has said most HCAs routinely undertake clinical tasks normally done by those on band 3, such as taking blood, performing electrocardiogram (ECG) tests, and inserting cannulas. The campaign wants healthcare support workers to be rebanded and paid back pay for the years of work they carried out above their pay grade, which could be as far back as 2017/18.
On current pay rates, a band two care worker earns £23,615, but a worker at the top of band three can earn £25,674.
In the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust healthcare support workers have been upgraded to band 3, but the Trust’s offer of back pay was not considered satisfactory hence the strike action in early August. Strike action had previously been taken by staff in two separate periods in July.
Unison said 98% of nursing assistants backed strike action in a formal ballot but “there may be a resolution to the dispute soon” as Unison South East regional organiser Rachel Slaughter reported “a step in the right direction.”
The strike at five hospitals across Leicester and Northamptonshire is also an escalation of the dispute over back pay that has already led to 19 days of strike action and now a further 26 days of strike are underway. Unison has reported that the employer refuses to negotiate, focusing instead on breaking the strike, including threatening leaders with disciplinary action.
In the South West, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust finally agreed to uplift some HCAs to band 3 but is refusing to pay years of recognition of working above their pay grade that they are owed.
Strike action took place in July, a three-day walkout, which was the second time the support staff had taken action. It follows a 48-hour strike in June.
UNISON says other NHS trusts have already moved healthcare assistants to the correct salary band and agreed deals on back pay. For example, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust recently regraded its health support staff, awarding back pay to March 2017 in some cases.
But University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has, so far, failed to draw up a similar agreement, says UNISON.
Also at the end of July maternity support workers in Grimsby carried out a 48 hour strike after talks between UNISON and hospital managers failed to reach agreement.
The healthcare assistants at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust have been upgraded to band 3, but the maternity workers at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital have not received back pay to compensate them for the time they were on the wrong pay band.
Trust managers failed to bring an “acceptable offer” to the table, said UNISON Yorkshire and Humberside regional organiser Ashley Harper “so staff have been left with “no other option” but striking.
Other strikes are imminent; on 9 August Lewisham & Greenwich HCAs voted overwhelmingly (98.8%) for strike action. HCAs are asking to be rebanded to band 3 and for back pay. Unison has said that the trust refuses to reband all staff thst the union believes are eligible and will not grant fair back pay for work already done.
Unison’s campaign for fair pay has achieved considerable success over the years, with over 35,000 HCAs and some nurses being moved onto a higher pay band. While the Unison campaign has focused on HCAs, up-banding agreements have also been won for some nurses, phlebotomists, ward clerks, security officers and reception staff.
Most recently, HCAs at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust have voted overwhelmingly to accept an offer of back pay. In 2023 all band 2 staff carrying out clinical duties were moved up to band 3 earlier in 2024. An offer of back pay compensation to August 2021 was initially made by the trust, but staff voted overwhelmingly to reject this. A new offer was made and hundreds of band 2 staff will now receive back pay from August 2020.
In April Clinical hospital workers at the Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals accepted a new pay deal, ending almost six months of strike action. According to union officials, staff and NHS bosses agreed a wage rise backdated to April 2018 for 600 workers.
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