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Give fair pay to nurses, RCN urges chancellor

Call to chancellor Rishi Sunak for a 12.5% pay rise comes ahead of next week’s spending review announcement
Rishi Sunak

Call to chancellor Rishi Sunak for a 12.5% pay rise comes ahead of next week’s spending review announcement

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak Picture: PA Wire

The RCN is calling on chancellor Rishi Sunak to ensure that nurses are paid a fair wage for their ‘skill, dedication and professionalism’.

The call comes ahead of a government spending review to be announced next Wednesday.

Earlier this month the RCN launched a ‘Clapped us? Back us?’ campaign calling for a 12.5% pay rise.

RCN general secretary Dame Donna Kinnair
Dame Donna Kinnair
Picture: Justine Desmond

RCN general secretary Dame Donna Kinnair said: ‘The NHS is nothing without its staff, from the lowest to the highest paid. Their ability to pull together has been shown in this crisis and the public is looking to the government to do what is fair by them all.'

‘Nurses have gone above and beyond, and all we have heard is the sound of clapping’

‘Nursing staff across the whole of the health and care system, from hospitals to social care, have gone above and beyond, and all we have heard from the chancellor is the sound of clapping in Downing Street.'

‘Now he must make good on this applause and give nursing staff the pay that finally recognises their skill, dedication and professionalism.’

Professor Kinnair’s comments follow news that every MP across the UK has received messages calling on them to support fair pay for nursing. According to the RCN, 15,047 emails have been sent by nurses and members of the public to MPs urging them to put pressure on the chancellor to prioritise pay for nursing staff in the spending review.

‘We are not asking for a COVID-19 bonus – paying nursing fairly is a political choice’

Professor Kinnair said she cannot see how 50,000 nurse vacancies across the UK will be filled with the current pay levels.

She said: ‘We are not asking for a COVID-19 bonus – paying nursing fairly is a political choice. Cash-strapped health services can’t increase pay on their existing budgets. The chancellor must make the right decision.’

The Treasury was contacted for comment.


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