The Health Minister will not be alone in his fight to deliver recommended pay rises for healthcare workers, Emma Little-Pengelly has said.
The deputy First Minister said she and First Minister Michelle O’Neill would be doing everything in their power to find the money needed to achieve the “right outcome” on the issue.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt is tens of millions of pounds short of the total he needs to deliver awards recommended by the two health sector pay bodies for the current financial year.
He has proposed a two-stage process to implement the pay increases in a move he hopes will avert strike action from health unions.
Mr Nesbitt suggested making the pay awards in two stages, with the first award backdated to the summer rather than April.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly (Liam McBurney/PA)
The Health Minister said he will then work with Executive colleagues to find the funds required to cover the outstanding months’ worth of backdating, to be paid at a later date.
His Ulster Unionist Party colleague Alan Chambers asked Ms Little-Pengelly about the issue during Assembly questions on Monday, challenging her to confirm whether health remained the number one priority for her and Ms O’Neill’s administration.
“I think it’s incredibly important that we do everything that we can do to ensure that our public sector workers receive fair pay,” the deputy First Minister replied.
“I set out very clearly when the budget settlement was announced that we knew that this was going to be very, very difficult for all ministers but particularly for those departments that have a significant public sector pay pressure, and that included the Department of Education and the Department of Health.
“I can assure the member (Mr Chambers) that I’ve met with the Health Minister on a number of occasions, along with the First Minister and the Finance Minister (Caoimhe Archibald), first of all to assure him of our support in what he is trying to do, but also, secondly, because it is a key piece of work for us to do everything in our power to get to the right outcome on this and we wanted to emphasise to the Health Minister that he was not alone on this fight, that we will be working hard with him to do everything that we can and that remains my commitment today.”
The NHS Pay Review Body, which makes recommendations on the pay of staff on the Agenda for Change terms and conditions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, has recommended a 5.5% increase for 2024/25.
The review body for pay for doctors and dentists in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has recommended a 6% increase.