three bands, 8c, 8d and 9, increments will have to be earned annually, and might not be retained where the appropriate local level of performance is not reached for the top three bands employers may introduce alternative local pay arrangements better protection for staff moved to lower grade posts. From September 2014 NHS Wales intends to pay NHS staff at least the living wage, resulting in about 2,400 employees receiving an increase in salary of up to £470 above UK wide Agenda for Change rates. Following the financial crisis which started in 2007, NHS pay was frozen in 2011 for two years, followed by increases capped at 1 per cent. In March 2017 the National Health Service Pay Review Body (NHSPRB), the independent body who advises the government on healthcare sector pay, advised that the public sector 1% pay cap be extended for another year. In June 2018 employers and unions announced that NHS staff in England had accepted a deal to reform the current Agenda for Change system and provide a three-year pay deal. The reforms include the removal of overlapping pay points between bands and incremental pay progression no longer occurring on a yearly basis. The final year of implementation is 2020/21. The objectives included: increasing starting salaries reducing the number of pay points thus shortening the time to reach the top of the pay scale. In 2020 the government agreed, due to the COVID-19 crisis, that NHS staff will not be fully subject to the public sector pay freeze when the three-year pay deal end in April 2021. Bands Example job profiles within the nine bands are: Catering Assistant, Cleaner Administrative Assistant, Health Care Support Worker, Portering Secretary, Health Care Support Worker (Emergency Medicine/ Theatres), Occupational Therapy Assistant/ Technician/ Support Worker, Physiotherapy Assistant, Speech Therapy Assistant, Social Work Assistant Office Supervisor/ Team Leader, Medical Secretary, Personal Assistant, Finance Officer, Assistant Nurse Practitioner, Occupational Therapy Assistant/ Technician/ Support Worker, Nursery Nurse, Pharmacy Technician, Social Care Officer Office Manager/ Junior Manager, Staff Nurse, Midwife (Newly Qualified), Diagnostic/Therapeutic Radiographer, Dietitian, Emergency Medical Technician, Senior Pharmacy Technician, Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist, Clinical Physiologist, Operating Department Practitioner (Newly Qualified), Speech & Language Therapist (Newly Qualified), Biomedical Scientist (Entry Level), Social Worker (Newly Qualified) Management Accountant, Junior Sister, Specialist Staff Nurse, Specialist Dietitian, Paramedic, Senior Radiographer (Diagnostic/Therapeutic) Emergency Nurse Practitioner, Health Visitor, Specialist Speech and language therapist Senior Physiotherapist, Senior Occupational Therapist, Biomedical Scientists,