Unison says the government's decision to stick with the NHS pay review body process means ‘yet another lengthy delay' before health workers in England get the annual wage rise they should be due today (1 April).

Head of health, Helga Pile, said: ‘The NHS could lose essential staff recruited from overseas because pay rates are out of sync with the visa salary threshold. Trusts have been put in a terrible position and migrant workers whose visas are about to run out are being caused untold distress.

'The government should've ditched the painfully slow pay review body process when it had the chance and held pay talks with unions, which could have avoided these problems.

'Ministers need staff to help them reduce delays for patients and get treatment waits down. Awarding a decent pay rise on time would have helped persuade health workers that ministers understand the problems facing the NHS and have a plan to start solving them.'

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham added: ‘When Labour won the election, they said that they would address NHS pay. They promised that pay increases would happen on time and not leave workers in the dark like under previous governments. And yet there is radio silence.

‘On 1 April, Unite is calling on the government to get a move on and pay our NHS staff what they are owed. Stop the delays, stop dealing with outdated and discredited pay bodies and deal with the unions to give our NHS members what they deserve.'

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has heavily criticised ministers, accusing the government of ‘failing to deliver the change it promised' and ‘charting course for the nursing workforce crisis to deepen'.

RCN executive director of legal and member relations, Jo Galbraith-Marten, said: ‘Nursing staff deliver the vast majority of care in our NHS and are crucial to keeping patients safe, but yet again we won't see a pay rise arrive on time. The government is failing to deliver the change it promised.

'There are tens of thousands of empty nursing posts, student recruitment is collapsing and the numbers quitting nursing early is skyrocketing. By delaying a pay award, ministers are charting course for the nursing workforce crisis to deepen.

'After well over a decade of seeing their pay eroded, nursing staff desperately need a fair pay rise. If ministers have any hopes of recruiting and retaining enough nursing staff to deliver their NHS reforms, they need to act with urgency.'