Correspondence

NHS Pay Review Body remit letter: 2022 to 2023

Published 30 November 2021

Applies to England

Philippa Hird
Chair NHS Pay Review Body
Office of Manpower Economics
Level 3, Windsor House
50 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0TL

Dear Ms Hird,

I should firstly like to offer my thanks for the NHS Pay Review Body’s (NHSPRB) work over the past year on the 2021 report and for the patience you and your members showed during the previous round. The government appreciates the independent, expert advice and valuable contribution that the NHSPRB makes. I write to you now to formally commence the 2022 to 2023 pay round.

As the NHS budget has already been set until 2024 to 2025, it is vital that planned workforce growth is affordable and within the budgets set, particularly as there is a direct relationship between pay and staff numbers.

The government must balance the need to ensure fair pay for public sector workers while protecting funding for frontline services and ensuring affordability for taxpayers. We must ensure that the affordability of a pay award is taken into consideration to ensure that the NHS is able to recruit, retain and motivate its Agenda for Change workforce, as well as deliver on other key priorities, including ensuring the NHS has 50,000 more nurses by 2025 and tackling elective recovery.

The evidence that my department and NHS England and Improvement will provide in the coming months, will support you in your consideration of all these factors.

As always, while your remit covers the whole of the United Kingdom, it is for each administration to make its own decisions on its approach to this year’s pay round and to communicate this to you directly.

We would welcome your reports in May 2022, subject to ongoing conversations with the Office of Manpower Economics.

I would like to thank you again for yours’ and the Review Body’s invaluable contribution to the pay round and look forward to receiving your 2022 report in due course.

Yours ever,

Sajid Javid Secretary of State for Health and Social Care