Overview
Fair pay for NHS staff, including dietitians, is essential to a safe, sustainable and effective health service.
Dietitians play a vital role across prevention, treatment and long-term care, yet their contribution is too often undervalued.
Fair pay affects recruitment, retention, morale and patient care, and the BDA will continue to press for action that properly reflects the skill and value of the workforce.
I want to take action now
What is the Fair Pay for NHS Staff Campaign?
The BDA’s Fair Pay for NHS Staff campaign calls for pay that adequately reflects the skills, responsibility and value of NHS staff.
Fair pay is essential to retaining experienced staff, attracting new recruits and supporting high-quality patient care.
Our members are already subjected to wider workforce pressures relating to career progression, morale and the long-term sustainability of NHS more widely.
Why is this needed?
NHS staff have faced years of pay erosion alongside rising workload, workforce shortages and growing pressure across services.
Dietitians and other NHS professionals work in highly skilled roles that are essential to prevention, treatment and long-term care, yet pay has too often failed to reflect that contribution.
Fair pay is essential to improving the retention of our members, supporting recruitment into the profession, strengthening morale and helping to ensure patients receive safe, high-quality care.
What are we doing about it?
On Friday 3 July 2026, the BDA stood with other NHS trade unions to deliver a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, calling for the focus and investment needed to make fair pay in the NHS a reality.
In the letter, signed by 78,000 NHS staff and supported by 14 health unions, NHS workers have told government that a 3.3% pay award is not enough.
The letter also warns that the pay award fails to keep pace with the cost of living, won’t repair years of lost pay and doesn’t address the lower pay rises for those on Agenda for Change contracts than other groups in recent years.
Find out more and read the open letter here.
How can you get involved?
You can support the campaign by signing the joint union open letter and sharing it with colleagues. This helps show the strength of feeling across the workforce and keeps pressure on government to improve its approach to NHS pay.
You can also keep up to date with the latest campaign developments through the BDA’s news and campaign updates and look out for further opportunities to support the campaign.