NHS physios in England set to strike after government makes no new pay offer

After a meeting with the UK Government on Monday 9 January 2023 resulted in “no tangible progress” being made, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) is set to announce the first of its strike dates in England this week.

Earlier this week, the CSP met with the health secretary, Steve Barclay, in London to negotiate better pay for NHS staff in England. The CSP is lobbying specifically for better pay for NHS physiotherapists, who often work with assistive technologies to support patients with their rehabilitation programmes. However, other health unions also met with Steve Barclay on Monday to discuss better pay for NHS staff across the board in England.

Despite the meeting, no new pay offer has been made for NHS staff in England.

Elaine Sparkes, Assistant Director at the CSP, who attended the meeting, said: “Although the meeting was more constructive this time, there is nothing tangible on the table. As such, we’ll be announcing the first of our strike dates later this week as we continue to push for a fairer deal for our members and their colleagues.”

The CSP has a mandate for strike action in more than 100 trusts across England, along with all health boards in Wales.

Action in England is likely to involve a series of strikes over a number of days, starting in the last week of January, according to the society.

This latest announcement follows action last month by the CSP, whereby NHS physiotherapists in England and Wales voted to take strike action in their first-ever ballot on pay and retention issues.

84 percent of cast votes in England and 89 percent of cast votes in Wales voted in favour of strike action.

In contrast to tensions in England and Wales, negotiations over NHS physiotherapy staff pay in Scotland resulted in a positive outcome after a lot of lobbying.

Although CSP members in Scotland initially voted in favour of strike action over NHS pay, the Scottish Government proposed a final pay offer, which represented an average 7.5 percent uplift for NHS staff.

The CSP then urged members to accept this pay offer, stating that the government had taken note of the strike action, and that it was a positive outcome.

A decision on action in Wales is expected in the coming weeks, according to the CSP.