NHS workers in Scotland are being urged to reject a government-proposed pay rise, with union leaders insisting that it is not enough after a “wretched year.”

GMB Scotland is recommending that its members turn down the 4 per cent offer when a consultative ballot is held next month.

The offer from the Scottish government, backdated to December 2020, applies to staff including nurses, midwives, paramedics and porters, and would see those on salaries below £25,000 receiving increases of more than £1,000.

GMB Scotland organiser Karen Leonard insisted: “The offer doesn’t value our members properly, it doesn’t restore the pay they’ve lost after a decade of cuts and it doesn’t secure their future.

“We see this pay offer for what it is — a pre-election punt by an outgoing Health Secretary that looks better than it really is when put up against the insulting 1 per cent increase for our NHS colleagues in England.

Ms Leonard, speaking ahead of a public-sector pay demonstration in Glasgow on Thursday, insisted this was the “least ministers can do after everything our NHS staff have done for all of us.”

She added: “After all the applause, we strongly believe that the Scottish government can and should go further on our members’ pay.”

Members of other trade unions are currently considering the deal, with Julie Lamberth of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) saying that her union believes workers are still worth more. 

Writing on the RCN’s website, she said: “We still think nursing staff deserve an increase of 12.5 per cent. This is a figure that both recognises how we have all stepped up to the incredible challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic and closes the gap in pay opened up over years of pay awards that did not match inflation. 

“That campaign will continue. While the offer does not match what the RCN is campaigning for, it is a formal offer and urgently requires a response.” 

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman announced details of the pay deal to 154,000 NHS workers shortly before MSPs went into recess ahead of the forthcoming Holyrood elections.

Unison has yet to publish its recommendations on the offer. 

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has previously described the pay deal as a “fair deal for our NHS staff.”