Rapisan Sawangphon/Alamy.com
NHS staff on Agenda for Change (AfC) contracts in England and Wales will receive a 3.3% pay rise in 2026/2027.
In a statement issued on 12 February 2026, Jeremy Miles, Welsh cabinet secretary for health and social care, said: “The NHSPRB [NHS Pay Review Body] economic analysis shows this uplift is above the current inflation forecasts for both the Bank of England and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).”
The NHSPRB had recommended the increase, which will come into force from 1 April 2026 for all AfC pay points.
In a written statement to Parliament, also published 12 February 2026, health secretary Wes Streeting mirrored Miles point, adding: “The uplift is above the OBR’s forecast inflation of 2.2 per cent for 2026–2027, delivering a real terms pay rise for NHS staff.”
However, in a statement published on the same day as the announcement, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) said: “At 3.3%, this year’s increase is below latest annual inflation rates, which means it is a real-terms pay cut to the salaries being paid to NHS pharmacists when compared to how prices have increased over the last year.
“This is extremely disappointing, has inevitably undone some of the progress on pay made in the previous two reviews and sits awkwardly alongside other joint work with government to deliver the aspiration of the NHS being considered the country’s best employer.”
Helga Pile, head of health at UNISON, commented: “Hard-pressed NHS staff will be downright angry at another below-inflation pay award.
“Yet again, they’re expected to keep delivering more while effectively being given less, as pay slides behind living costs. Having an increase on time for once is only small comfort.
“Ministers’ plans for the NHS stand or fall on having a stable, motivated workforce to deliver them,” she added.
According to a NHSPRB report, published on 12 February 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) told the body that it had “developed financial and delivery plans which currently allowed for a pay uplift of 2.5% for 2026/2027 without having to make trade-offs against headline government health commitments”.
“[An uplift] somewhat in excess of the affordability figures provided to us will be necessary to sustain recent improvements to recruitment and retention and to protect the engagement and motivation of the workforce,” it said.
In his statement, Streeting noted: “This award is above the government’s affordability position set out in its evidence to the NHSPRB.
“This additional pressure above affordability will be managed by DHSC and [arm’s length bodies] (including NHS England central budgets) but none of the pay increases will be paid for by cutting frontline services.
“[The uplift] will be in pay packets from April [2026] for the first time in six years. We have listened to the workforce and understand the difficulties they face when pay awards are not delivered on time,” he added.
“That’s why this government committed to speeding up the pay review process, remitting the NHSPRB months earlier than previous years, and submitting written evidence earlier too.”
Dean Royles, interim chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “This early acceptance by the government of the NHSPRB’s recommendations will ensure that for the first time in many years, all NHS AfC staff will receive their annual pay uplift at the very start of the pay year in April [2026]. In previous years, it has been as late as September or October, so this will be welcomed by many.
“NHS trusts are right now in the midst of submitting their medium-term financial, service and workforce plans. They will have prepared for the award being less than the 3.3 per cent that has been announced, so it is essential that that the funding of the award is clarified as soon as possible,” he added.
