Workers at St George’s in Tooting and Epsom Hospital and St Helier in Carshalton voted 100% and 99% in favour of strike action

Around 600 healthcare assistants working at three hospitals in south-west London and Surrey are on the brink of taking strike action, after the NHS trusts which employ them refused to give them back pay for periods when they were working in the wrong grades.

Strike ballot: workers at St Helier, St George’s in Tooting and Epsom hospitals have voted overwhelmingly for strike action

In some cases, the NHS workers have been underpaid for a decade.

Management at St Helier Hospital, Epsom Hospital and St George’s in Tooting have agreed that the workers had been working under the wrong pay grade. But they are not willing to make good on years of under-payment.

“This is the worst back-pay deal we’ve seen in London when it comes to settling this sort of dispute,” according to one union official.

Now Unison, the union that represents the affected workers, is preparing to consult over strike action in the New Year.

The workers had been carrying out tasks – such as taking blood, performing electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas – that should have been paid at a higher hourly rate.

The employers have agreed that the healthcare assistants should be moved from Band 2 of their pay scale to the better-paid Band 3.

Under the current NHS pay scales, Band 2 workers are paid £24,465 per year, while Band 3 can range from £24,937 to £26,598.

There has already been near-unanimous support for strike action. In ballots which closed on December 22, there was a 100% vote for strike action among workers employed by St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and 99% in favour of strike action from those working at the Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Bosses at the trusts are offering 17 months’ back pay, which the union says falls well short of fairly compensating the staff.

Unison says that the trusts’ refusal to settle up is out of step with what is happening elsewhere. Since 2021, more than NHS trusts in England and Wales have agreed deals on regrading and back pay for more than 40,000 healthcare workers.

“Healthcare assistants have sent a clear message that they’ve had enough of being undervalued and underpaid,” said Sara Gorton, Unison’s London regional secretary.

“Staff have been working above their pay grade for years and it’s only right that they are paid fairly for that work.

“Hospital managers have to recognise the strength of feeling on this issue. They need to come back with an offer that properly compensates their employees for the work they’ve done.

“If they don’t, they can expect to see staff walking out in the New Year.”

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