Hundreds of hospital workers in Wiltshire represented by UNISON are celebrating victory after their employer, Wiltshire Health and Care, committed to paying the lump sum bonus due to them.
The one-off payment is worth at least £1,655 for full-time health workers, including nurses, occupational therapists, care co-ordinators, and physios working in the NHS.
Wiltshire Health and Care applied for funding for the pay deal from the Department of Health and Social Care and has written to UNISON to say that its application for funding had been successful.
Staff at Wiltshire’s six community hospitals had taken two days of strike action over the company’s previous refusal to honour the payment, already given to health workers employed directly by the NHS in June.
The sum was part of a deal agreed for all staff on NHS contracts and Agenda for Change pay scales, but Wiltshire Health and Care said it could not afford to pay up.
Wiltshire Health and Care is a Limited Liability Partnership, created in 2014 by three NHS trusts Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.
UNISON South West regional secretary Kerry Baigent said: “This is a victory for hundreds of low-paid health workers employed by Wiltshire Health and Care.
“These workers shouldn’t have had to go on strike and lose money to win the cash that’s rightfully theirs.
“Nor should they have had to wait many months for the one-off payments their directly employed NHS colleagues got months ago.
“The three Trusts should have done more to ensure that Wiltshire Health and Care workers received the lump sum at the same time as their directly employed staff.
“Health workers employed by private firms shouldn’t be treated less favourably or earn less an hour only because they no longer work for the NHS.”
