diff --git a/actions.yaml b/actions.yaml
index 953ee8d1..a541ea5f 100644
--- a/actions.yaml
+++ b/actions.yaml
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ openstack-upgrade:
   description: >-
     Perform OpenStack upgrades. Config option action-managed-upgrade must be
     set to True.
+package-upgrade:
+  description: |
+    Perform package upgrades for the current OpenStack release.
 instance-count:
   description: Return the number of VMs running on this unit.
 list-compute-nodes:
diff --git a/actions/package-upgrade b/actions/package-upgrade
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..6c6a7b84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actions/package-upgrade
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+package_upgrade.py
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/actions/package_upgrade.py b/actions/package_upgrade.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..576f8049
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actions/package_upgrade.py
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#
+# Copyright 2022 Canonical Ltd
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import os
+import sys
+
+
+_path = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
+_hooks = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(_path, '../hooks'))
+
+
+def _add_path(path):
+    if path not in sys.path:
+        sys.path.insert(1, path)
+
+
+_add_path(_hooks)
+
+
+from charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.utils import (
+    do_action_package_upgrade,
+)
+from charmhelpers.core.hookenv import (
+    relation_ids,
+)
+from nova_compute_utils import do_openstack_upgrade
+from nova_compute_hooks import (
+    config_changed,
+    CONFIGS,
+    neutron_plugin_joined,
+    nova_ceilometer_joined,
+)
+
+
+def package_upgrade():
+    """Perform package upgrade within the current OpenStack release.
+
+    In order to prevent this action from upgrading to a new release of
+    OpenStack, package upgrades are not run if a new OpenStack release is
+    available. See source of do_action_package_upgrade() for this check.
+
+    Upgrades packages and sets the corresponding action status as a result."""
+
+    if (do_action_package_upgrade('nova-common',
+                                  do_openstack_upgrade,
+                                  CONFIGS)):
+        # we should restart the container scoped (subordinate) plugins after a
+        # managed openstack upgrade see: BUG#1835557
+        for rid in relation_ids('neutron-plugin'):
+            neutron_plugin_joined(rid, remote_restart=True)
+        for rid in relation_ids('nova-ceilometer'):
+            nova_ceilometer_joined(rid, remote_restart=True)
+        # NOTE(ajkavanagh) - if unit is paused (usually true for managed
+        # upgrade) then the config_changed() function is a no-op
+        config_changed()
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    package_upgrade()
diff --git a/unit_tests/test_actions_package_upgrade.py b/unit_tests/test_actions_package_upgrade.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9bd98cb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unit_tests/test_actions_package_upgrade.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# Copyright 2022 Canonical Ltd
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from unittest.mock import patch
+import os
+
+os.environ['JUJU_UNIT_NAME'] = 'nova_compute'
+
+with patch('charmhelpers.core.hookenv.config') as config:
+    config.return_value = 'nova'
+    with patch('charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.context.HostInfoContext'):
+        import nova_compute_utils as utils  # noqa
+
+with patch('nova_compute_utils.restart_map'):
+    with patch('nova_compute_utils.register_configs'):
+        import package_upgrade
+
+from test_utils import (
+    CharmTestCase
+)
+
+TO_PATCH = [
+    'config_changed',
+    'do_openstack_upgrade'
+]
+
+
+class TestNovaComputeUpgradeActions(CharmTestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(TestNovaComputeUpgradeActions, self).setUp(package_upgrade,
+                                                         TO_PATCH)
+
+    @patch.object(package_upgrade, 'relation_ids')
+    @patch('charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.utils.action_set')
+    @patch('charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.utils.openstack_upgrade_available')
+    @patch('charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.utils.juju_log')
+    def test_package_upgrade_success(self, log, upgrade_avail,
+                                     action_set, relation_ids):
+        upgrade_avail.return_value = False
+        package_upgrade.package_upgrade()
+        self.assertTrue(self.do_openstack_upgrade.called)
+
+    @patch.object(package_upgrade, 'relation_ids')
+    @patch('charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.utils.action_set')
+    @patch('charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.utils.openstack_upgrade_available')
+    @patch('charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.utils.juju_log')
+    def test_openstack_upgrade_failure(self, log, upgrade_avail,
+                                       action_set, relation_ids):
+        upgrade_avail.return_value = True
+        package_upgrade.package_upgrade()
+        self.assertFalse(self.do_openstack_upgrade.called)