Following negotiations between health unions, the NHS Staff Council, and the Government, a pay deal was reached for NHS staff who are on Agenda for Change contracts earlier this year.

This deal included the awarding of a one-off ‘NHS backlog bonus’ worth at least £1,250 to these workers “for all their efforts during the pandemic”.

However, this bonus was not awarded to all health workers who had contributed to keeping the NHS and the country going during the COVID-19 pandemic.  There were two main exclusions:

• People who worked for the NHS but not on Agenda for Change contracts, such as Bank staff or those who worked through charities, local authorities, and social enterprises.
• People who stopped working for the NHS just before the pay deal came into effect on 31 March 2023.

In both of these case, the staff in question had worked throughout the pandemic and in the clearing of the subsequent backlog, but were not entitled to the so-called ‘backlog bonus.’

On 20 June, I wrote to the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, and asked him how it was fair that these two groups of workers did not receive the bonus despite it being pitched as a reward for these very people.

The response that I received from Will Quince, the then Minister for Health and Secondary Care, did not directly address this disparity.  Instead, he repeated the Government’s line that the pay deal was agreed upon by all parties involved in the negotiations, including the 31 March implementation date.

However, since then, Social Enterprise UK, which represents thousands of healthcare workers who do not work directly for the NHS, had started the process of applying for a judicial review into whether these workers should have been awarded the bonus.

Before the review could even really get started, the Government agreed to fund the bonus for these workers, and Will Quince said: “This will ensure hardworking healthcare staff and the organisations they work for are not financially disadvantaged as a result of the NHS pay deal, and means they will receive their backlog bonus for their efforts during the pandemic.”

This is of course good news for these workers, however this does not apply to Bank staff or workers who had stopped working for the NHS by 31 March 2023.

In light of this development, I have written to the new Minister of State for Health, Andrew Stephenson, and asked him to also fund the one-off bonus for the two groups that I have mentioned above.  I have posted a copy of this letter for you to see below: