NHS staff across most major unions in England have voted to accept a 5.5% pay increase for 2026-27, ending the threat of strike action that had been building through the spring and which NHS managers had warned could cause serious disruption to elective care recovery.
The Royal College of Nursing voted 61% in favour; Unite accepted with 58% support; UNISON, the largest healthcare union, accepted with 64% in favour. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and the Society of Radiographers also accepted.
Only the British Medical Association's junior doctors committee, which had been negotiating separately, remains in dispute, with talks continuing over a residual pay gap that the BMA says persists from the 2023-24 disputes.
The Government's View
The Health Secretary described the settlement as "fair to staff and fair to taxpayers," noting that 5.5% in the current inflation environment represented a genuine real-terms increase for most NHS staff.
The cost of the settlement — approximately £2.8 billion — will be funded from within the NHS England budget, requiring what the Department of Health described as "reprioritisation" within existing allocations.
What It Means for Patients
The avoidance of a summer strike is significant for the elective waiting list recovery programme. NHS England had modelled that a sustained strike lasting several weeks could have added 200,000-300,000 patients to the waiting list and pushed back the timetable for meeting the 18-week target by 6-12 months.
With the industrial action threat lifted, NHS England's focus can return to maximising productivity through the expanded evening and weekend sessions that form the centrepiece of the elective recovery plan.
