More nurses reject NHS pay award: what happens next?
Posted 04 November 2024 - 13:55
RCN members in Wales have signalled their dissatisfaction with the 5.5% award for NHS nursing staff, joining members in England in rejecting the offer
More nurses have rejected the government’s 2024-25 pay offer, with almost three quarters of RCN members in Wales who took part in a consultation voting against the 5.5% pay increase.
Thousands of RCN members in Wales took part in the online consultation between 25 September and 25 October, with an overwhelming 72% of respondents voting to reject the proposed pay award from the Welsh government.
Pay offer ‘does not recognise the value and critical responsibility of nursing staff’
In September first minister Eluned Morgan announced the Welsh government would follow Westminster in accepting the recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body and offering Agenda for Change staff a 5.5% increase. The pay rise, which will hit pay packets in Wales this month, will be backdated until 1 April.
However, the RCN says the result demonstrates that members ‘decisively believe’ this award does not recognise the value, expertise and critical responsibility of nursing staff.
In England, two thirds of 145,000 members who took part in a similar online consultation voted to reject the pay award, which prompted a meeting between health and social care secretary Wes Streeting and RCN general secretary Nicola Ranger in October to discuss pay concerns.
RCN calls for urgent pay talks, saying ‘our members know their worth’
After Monday’s consultation result, RCN Wales executive director Helen Whyley called on the cabinet secretary for health and social care Jeremy Miles to engage in ‘urgent talks to address pay restoration’ with the nursing union.
‘Our members have spoken loudly and clearly: nursing staff in Wales know their worth,’ she said. ‘After years of underpayment, this award fails to match the safety critical nature of their work and the extensive skills they bring to the NHS.
‘With the NHS in Wales in a fragile state, it is imperative that the Welsh government commits to valuing nursing staff to strengthen recruitment and retention, which will in turn improve patient care. We urge the Welsh government to recognise that fair pay is essential to sustaining this essential workforce.’
Rejected pay awards – is industrial action being considered?
Elsewhere, in Northern Ireland health unions are due to meet health minister Mike Nesbitt later this month, when it is hoped an indication of a pay award for NHS staff there will finally be given. In Scotland, the pay award has been accepted.
The RCN is yet to confirm whether it will ballot members in England, Wales or Northern Ireland for industrial action.
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