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However, a three-year deal offered to teachers last week, which exceeds the government's 2 per cent inflation target, has fuelled optimism that the DoH may be open to above-inflation increases.

A spokesman for the Community District Nursing Association, a TUC affiliate, said the government had announced that it favoured three-year public sector pay deals without consulting unions. 'There is a concern that the government wants to impose a three-year deal before the review body reports,' he told Independent Nurse.

Unions are not opposed to a three-year deal, but warned that they could not agree to a deal without a 'safety mechanism' to protect members from cost-of-living increases.

A Unison spokeswoman said: 'We have had three-year pay deals in the past, for example when Agenda for Change was being implemented.

'What we would not want would be to enter into a pay deal that means a pay cut for our members.'

The teachers' deal is worth 2.45 per cent for 2008/9, and 2.3 per cent for the following two financial years, short of the 'significantly above-inflation' deal the unions asked for in their evidence to the review body, and well short of the retail price index inflation figure of 4.3 per cent.

The government has said pay rises for public sector staff above 2 per cent will contribute to rising inflation.

But unions are taking expert advice from economists and academics because they do not accept this claim.

A DoH spokeswoman said discussions over three-year deals would continue 'in parallel' with the review body process.

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