Equal pay for work of equal value: the pay band revolution

Pay restraint and the down-banding of roles has demoralised the nursing workforce. At this year's RCN congress, delegates will debate whether nursing jobs should be systematically re-banded under Agenda for Change

Years of wage restraint have left nurses facing a 14% real-terms pay cut since 2010, but could re-evaluating nurses' jobs help improve the situation?

This is the thinking behind a resolution calling for a systematic re-banding of NHS nursing jobs under Agenda for Change (AfC). The topic will be debated by attendees at this year's RCN congress.

'The system is still relevant, but nursing jobs haven't been re-evaluated for a long time,' says the resolution's proposer, Mike Travis of the RCN Greater Liverpool and Knowsley Branch. 'The RCN's survey shows that growing numbers of members think their pay band