Pay for 2024/5
Northern Ireland is following a Pay Review Body (PRB) process process for 2024/25. The PRB is independent from the government and reviews information and evidence from health unions, the government itself, and NHS employers. It will then make recommendations to ministers. It is the government which decides whether to accept these recommendations.
The central government published the PRB's recommendation on 29 July 2024. The recommendation is for 5.5% for all staff from April 2024.
The health trade unions have met with Health Minister Mike Nesbitt and his officials on several occasions since mid-November 2024.
The unions have been very clear that the PRB recommendation should be implemented in full. Furthermore, they insisted that any pay offer must ensure pay parity and be backdated to 1 April 2024.
We now have an agreement which ensures pay parity but which due to financial constraints will see the back pay staged with pay initially being back-dated to 1 June 2024.
We do have a commitment that the final two months of back pay will be honoured if not within the 2024/25 financial year then at the early stages of the 2025/26 financial year.