Members will receive an extra 0.15% on top of their pay rise for 2025-26, bringing the total increase to 4.4%, backdated to 1 April.

The RCM and the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC) secured the guarantee as part of the two-year Agenda for Change deal. With inflation confirmed at 3.4%, the guarantee has kicked in.

Jaki Lambert, director of RCM Scotland, said: ‘The 0.15% might not sound huge, but it means members' pay is genuinely keeping pace with rising costs.

‘This also creates a higher baseline for next year, when the 3.75% increase will be calculated on a 36-hour working week – which will mean more money for our members. However, we know that years of pay erosion can't be reversed overnight and there's still work to do on pay modernisation. We'll keep pushing on that.'