Ancillary workers at Airedale Hospital have been demanding equal pay, terms and conditions with the NHS following outsourcing. Simon Midgely explains the fight.

In 2018, porters, cleaners, caterers and security staff at Airedale General Hospital in Steeton, near Keighley in West Yorkshire, were outsourced to a separate wholly owned subsidiary company, called Airedale General Hospital Solutions (AGH Solutions).

At that time, those staff who had been employed by the NHS, under NHS Agenda for Change terms, conditions and pay rates, kept these when they were transferred over to AGH Solutions. But any new staff recruited were employed on inferior terms, conditions and pay rates. This created a two-tier workforce.

Newer workers were paid less, and had worse terms and conditions than their workmates, even though they were doing exactly the same work, making them feel ‘like second-class citizens in our own place of work’, as one porter later described it.

Then in 2021, the GMB union demanded equal pay for all staff. They successfully balloted for strike action, and 150 members were ready to walk out, when the Trust gave in and agreed to pay everyone the same on NHS Agenda for Change pay rates. This victory was won without a single day’s pay being lost.

However, the two-tier workforce still existed in terms and conditions, such as sick pay, holidays, Sunday-working pay enhancements, maternity/paternity leave and pensions.

In summer last year, the GMB demanded that all staff should be given the same NHS Agenda for Change terms and conditions. Again, they balloted for strike action, with 90% of those voting supporting the call, and the first three days of action took place in September.

On 26 September, the GMB reported that a number of Airedale strikers had met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who had promised to intervene on their behalf, and that a more restrictive approach to NHS outsourcing had been promised, with the protection of workers’ NHS terms and conditions, including ‘access to pensions’.

However, after three more days of strike action in October, the Trust conceded ground on every issue except pensions. A deal was put to the members, which brought them closer to full parity with NHS Agenda for Change terms and conditions. They accepted it, on the proviso that negotiations on pension ‘alignment’ would continue.

This meant that from 1 November:

· There would be full ‘alignment’ with the NHS Agenda for Change on weekend-working enhancements, annual leave, maternity/paternity leave, and death-in-service benefits.

· Sick pay was boosted by 50% immediately, with a further 25% increase agreed for the next financial year, and discussions to reopen in 2027 on further improvements.

· Workers with five years or more service gained three extra days of annual leave.

· The Sunday-working pay enhancement jumped from 41% to 83% on top of basic pay, matching the Agenda for Change rate.

· Sick pay increased from ten weeks full pay and ten weeks half pay to fifteen weeks full pay and fifteen weeks half-pay.

However, since then, no further progress has been made in negotiations over pensions.

This table shows how inferior the pension provided by AGH Solutions actually is:

A fresh strike was initially planned to start on New Year’s Eve, but was called off due to concerns over its potential effect on patients during the holiday period. Now around 200 porters, cleaners, caterers and security staff are due to take seven straight days of strike action from Tuesday 20 to Monday 26 January.

This is a serious escalation. Achieving pension parity for everyone working at Airedale General Hospital, in full alignment with the NHS pension scheme, is a major demand which the Trust will not readily concede, but the solidarity and unity already demonstrated by these NHS workers shows how this fight can be won.

Simon Midgley, Unison Porters’ Steward, Bradford Royal Infirmary, 9 January 2026