NHS Unison members accept pay deal offer in England

Ambulance crews, some nurses and other NHS health staff who are Unison members have voted in favour of accepting the government's pay offer in England.

That includes a permanent 5% pay rise for 2023-24 worth at least £1,065, plus an extra one-off lump sum to top up the past year's salary.

It follows several rounds of strikes and negotiations this winter.

The Royal College Nursing is due to announce how its members in England voted on the deal later today.

Meanwhile, NHS junior doctors in England are staging a four-day walkout over pay, ending at 07:00 BST on Saturday.

In the Unison consultation of 288,000 NHS workers across England, almost three-quarters (74%) voted to accept the offer, and 26% to reject.

Turnout was 53%, with 152,329 votes cast. Of these 112,458 voted yes, and 39,871 no.

Sara Gorton from Unison said: "Clearly health workers would have wanted more, but this was the best that could be achieved through negotiation.

"Over the past few weeks, health workers have weighed up what's on offer. They've opted for the certainty of getting the extra cash in their pockets soon.

"Other unions are still consulting, so the full picture won't emerge until the end of the month. Unison will be urging the government to ensure NHS workers get the wage rises they've voted for at the earliest opportunity."