Tory ministers kick off talks on next year’s NHS pay on Monday - despite strikes still raging over THIS year’s cut.
Unions demanded Rishi Sunak finally discuss wages for 2022/23 after he was accused of “misleading the public” in a TV interview.
The PM appeared to open the door to offering nurses more money in the current financial year.
Failing to “categorically” rule it out, he told the BBC he was “happy to talk about pay that is responsible, that’s affordable for the country.”
Royal College of Nursing General Secretary Pat Cullen called Mr Sunak's words a “chink of optimism”.
But government sources swiftly hosed down hope - insisting this year’s pay talks closed months ago, and Monday’s talks are about 2023/24.
Health Minister Maria Caulfield added: “We’re not looking at going back with post-dated pay awards.”
Ms Cullen - whose members will stage the “world’s biggest” nurse walkout on January 18-19 - said talks “must be about” this year’s pay.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham accused Mr Sunak of “misleading the British public”, saying there can be “no progress” while 2022/23 talks remain unresolved.
She blasted: “This meeting has been misrepresented on almost every level.”
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner added: “Rishi Sunak is taking our nurses and ambulance workers for fools. These talks are about next year’s pay settlements.”
UNISON head of health Sara Gorton said “health workers will be hoping” the PM’s comments meant he would move on 2022/23 pay.
She added: “Making a firm commitment to boost wages for what's left of the current year would mean unions may call off the strikes.”
The new talks with unions across government will start the process of setting pay from April 2023 for up to 5.7million public sector workers.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay hinted NHS workers could get a better pay deal from April - but only if they become more “productive and efficient”.
Transport minister Huw Merriman will also on Monday meet rail union leaders, who have threatened new walkouts if firms refuse to compromise.
Around 45,000 junior doctors will begin voting on Monday on whether to stage a 72-hour walkout in March over pay. The ballot closes on February 20.
And the Communication Workers Union is set to re-ballot 115,000 Royal Mail workers in the coming weeks to extend their wave of strikes beyond February.
Mr Sunak sparked confusion after being asked if he would “categorically rule out paying nurses more this year”.
He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “We want to have a reasonable, honest, two way conversation about pay and everything else that is relevant.”
Told “up until now” things had been “different”, he replied: “No, that’s always been the case.
“The door has always been open to talk about things that the nurses want to talk about and the unions want to talk about more generally.
“Which is why actually we just wrote to all the unions from across the public sector inviting them in for talks, and those talks are happening in many sectors on Monday which is great.
“And when it comes to pay we’ve always said we want to talk about things that are reasonable, that are affordable and responsible for the country.”
Asked again if he’d talk about “pay for this year”, he replied: “The government has always been clear that it’s happy to talk about pay that is responsible, that’s affordable for the country, that’s always been clear.
“But we have to look now, we’re about to start a new pay settlement round for this year.”
He then muddied the waters by saying he was “about to start the process” of talking about pay for “this year”.
Told this was for “next year”, he replied: “No, that’s literally about the year that we’re about to start.”
This year is 2022/23, which runs from April 2022 to March 2023.
Next year is 2023/24, which runs from April 2023 to March 2024.
Unions are still in dispute and striking over their pay offers for 2022/23. Disputes about 2023/24 haven’t even started yet.
But Tory ministers want to move the conversation to 2023/24 pay, claiming 2022/23’s dispute is done and dusted - despite the fact it is not.
