A nursing union is advising its members to accept the Scottish government's new pay offer.
The 6.5 percent increase from April, along with the assurance of other changes, according to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), will have a "positive difference" for nurses.
Last year, the government increased spending by 7.5 percent despite opposition from three health unions.
They are still at odds, but they have put their strike on hold while talks for the 2023–24 award are taking place.
Unison and Unite, two other unions with members employed by the NHS, accepted the pay award from the previous year.
The 160,000 NHS Scotland employees on Agenda for Change contracts, which include nurses, paramedics, midwives, and porters, will receive an additional £568 million, according to the Scottish government.
Staff up to Band 8a would experience an increase of at least 6%.
Additionally, each employee would get a one-time payment ranging from £387 to £939, depending on their banding.
The current NHS staff grading and pay system, Agenda for Change, will be reviewed, according to Julie Lamberth, chair of the RCN Scotland board.
The Scottish government's offer, which includes a pay increase and a review of Agenda for Change and how it applies to nursing, has been taken into consideration, she said.
We think it will benefit our members, so we're urging them to vote to accept the offer because we think it will. ".
The union claimed that the right to strike still applied, and that strike dates would be set if members rejected the offer.
The consultative ballot will begin on February 28 and end on March 20.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the GMB are still at odds over the agreement from last year, but like the RCN, they have put their strike on hold while talks about the pay award for 2023 are ongoing.
On the most recent offer, both unions stated that they would also speak with their members.
According to the RCM, the agreement would see the majority of midwives receive a lump sum payment and a combined raise of 13–14% over the course of two years.
"This additional payment was achieved as a direct result of RCM members continuing to dispute the Scottish government over the imposed 2022–23 pay offer," it was stated in a statement. ".
Although Wilma Brown of Unison's health committee welcomed the 2023 offer, she noted that NHS employees were right to be irate that the government took so long to resolve their pay claim from the previous year.
It's encouraging to see that the government has paid attention and has already made an offer for the upcoming year, several weeks before April 1. ".
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf stated that an additional £1 billion would be invested in NHS staff compensation over the next two years, and newly qualified nurses' salaries would rise by 15 point 8 percent.
According to Mr. Yousaf, Scotland's NHS Agenda for Change employees receive the highest salaries of any country in the UK.
He stated: "In fact, the UK government would need to offer increases in 2023/24 of over 14% at the top of band 5, over 13% at the top of band 6, and over 12% at the top of band 7 for NHS England to catch up with Scotland.
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