On 17 July 2025, the GMB’s consultative ballot on the Government’s imposed 3.6% NHS pay award officially closed. The result from GMB members working at EMAS is clear – a decisive 83% have rejected the award.
📊 EMAS Consultative Ballot Results:
- Ballot Return Rate: 48.63%
- Reject the Award: 83%
- Accept the Award: 16%
- Void Votes: 0.1%
📊 National Result (including all NHS Trusts both Acute and Ambulance Services)
- Reject the Award: 67%
- Accept the Award: 33%
While the result sends a strong message, it’s important to note that consultative ballots do not give us a legal mandate for industrial action. For any formal ballot to secure a lawful mandate for strike action, the following thresholds must be met:
- At least 50% turnout of those eligible to vote
- At least 40% of all eligible members must vote in favour of strike action
Although EMAS fell just short of the turnout threshold, the overwhelming rejection of the pay award cannot be ignored. GMB will now be analysing results across all regions and employers to determine the next steps.
💬 What’s Next?
The union has now written to the Secretary of State calling for an urgent meeting to discuss pay and other issues of significant importance to GMB members working across the NHS and ambulance services.
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said:
“GMB members in England have voted by a 67 per cent majority to reject the pay award offered for 2025/26.
“Our National NHS and Ambulance Committees met on 24 July to discuss the ballot results and determine what the next steps should be.
“Today, we have written to the Secretary of State, Wes Streeting, asking him to meet with us to discuss pay and other issues of significant importance to GMB members.
“We await his reply with interest.”
GMB EMAS have a meeting scheduled for next week to discuss our results and formulate a plan to support our members moving forward. We will publish further details as they become available.
GMB EMAS