Both sides made it clear that the first detailed pay negotiations since nurses began striking in December offer a real prospect that the growing campaign of industrial action by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), and the disruption it is bringing for NHS services, could soon be at an end.
One Whitehall source said: "We welcome that these talks are happening and hope that we get to a fair and reasonable deal. It has to be something that works for both sides."
The RCN called off a 48-hour stoppage it planned to hold in England next week - involving nurses refusing to work in A&E and intensive care units for the first time - after the health secretary, Steve Barclay, agreed yesterday to hold face-to-face talks with its general secretary, Pat Cullen, on nurses' pay for the first time since 9 January. However, it is unclear if the talks will involve nurses' pay in 2022-23, 2023-24 or both.
Until now, the RCN has said it would only call off its strikes if Barclay raised the £1,400-a-head award he imposed on all NHS staff except doctors and dentists, which equates to a rise of about 4% for most nurses.
But Rishi Sunak and Barclay have made clear that the government would not budge on its determination not to reopen that settlement, despite health unions' insistence that the flat rate was too low, given inflation has regularly been at over 10% over the past year. Both the Labour administration in Wales and the SNP government in Scotland have offered NHS staff much more.
For the talks to produce a breakthrough, either the RCN or Barclay would have to perform a major U-turn on their previous positions.
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