Press release

NHS Employers responds to UNISON pay ballot outcome

Read the response from NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer to the UNISON pay ballot outcome.

14 April 2023

Responding the outcome of the ballot of UNISON members on the government's pay offer, Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said:

"There is a mixed picture emerging in relation to the pay deal offered to the NHS. The news from our biggest union, UNISON, that their members will accept the deal is very positive indeed.

"It is clearly concerning to hear reports that RCN members may have rejected the pay offer agreed between non-medical unions and government, and which the RCN recommended to its membership.

"The NHS recognises a significant number of unions who represent our one million employees, and they reached a deal collectively with the government via the NHS Staff Council, which they set out to their members, and we all need to see what the final view is across these trade unions as a whole. 

"While there is now a period of uncertainty due to the differing responses I would urge all parties to await the completion of the process for all unions this month before deciding what their response should be.

"The calling of further strike action at this stage in the 50 per cent of English trusts where there is a strike mandate for the RCN would therefore be premature and disproportionate."