Health visitors in Wales were forced to go on strike after a health board refused to honour the job matching process outcome, highlights Richard Munn, Unite’s national officer for health. What’s the impact?
Health visitors in South Wales are being systematically underpaid for their role. This is despite internal job grading now matching them as a Band 7, which acknowledges a Master’s qualification.
The Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (CTMUHB) has refused to acknowledge its own job descriptions and pay HVs accordingly. This deliberate act of downgrading is costing HVs between £8000 and £9000 per year depending on where workers are on their pay scale.
TAKING ACTION
As a result, the HVs took strike action at the end of February 2026 (initially for four, then potentially eight further weeks). This included HVs and trade union activists marching from the Wales Millennium Centre to the Senedd. The aim was to take this matter to the heart of the Welsh Government and make their voices heard as part of their fair-pay campaign.
This dispute is heavily linked to the previous dispute with the CTMUHB, when staff had to take historic industrial action over unsustainable workloads (see the March/April 2024 issue).
WHAT’S THE BACKGROUND?
Following changes made by the NMC to the standards for post-registration programmes in 2022, and updates to HV Agenda for
Change (AfC) national profiles in 2025, Unite is campaigning for all SCPHN members to review their AfC banding and ensure they are being paid correctly.
A decision was made nationally at the UK staff council to ‘archive’ the Band 6 HV profile. This means it is now impossible to match
a HV job description against a Band 6 profile. All HVs – and, indeed, all SCPHN qualified staff, including those who qualified before 2022 – are deemed to have achieved the Master’s-level qualification. You can read more about this in the NHS Job Evaluation handbook.
UK-WIDE IMPLICATIONS
This campaign will not stop at the CTMUHB. Instead, the rally will show the Welsh Government the strength of feeling over this issue.
Every SCPHN-qualified NHS employee could make very similar arguments to the HVs in South Wales on the banding points above, and Unite will help raise these arguments and support members who want to challenge this unfairness. Hopefully, there will be a successful outcome that will set the example for all employers to follow.
All those taking part in the strike are women, and their collective actions and ethos will hopefully inspire and empower women and other marginalised groups to organise and strive for fairness and equality.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the Unite health website
Image | ISTOCK
