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Nurse pay: RCN urges staff to lobby MPs for 12.5% wage rise

College steps up campaign to persuade chancellor to give fully funded pay increase

College steps up campaign to persuade chancellor Rishi Sunak to give fully funded pay increase in upcoming spending review

Picture: iStock

The RCN has urged nurses and their supporters to lobby their MPs for a 12.5% pay rise for all NHS nursing staff in the UK.

This next step in the RCN’s pay campaign is an attempt to persuade the government to increase nurses’ pay ahead of a one-year spending review at the end of November.

Lobbying the chancellor for a fully funded pay rise

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has confirmed the upcoming sending review will contain a fully funded multi-year settlement for the NHS, and the college wants this to include a 12.5% pay rise for all nursing staff.

The RCN is asking people to lobby their MP on why a pay rise is needed for nursing and why Mr Sunak should fund it.

A nurse entering the NHS at band 5 earns £24,907 a year in England. A 12.5% pay increase would see this increase by £3,113 to £28,020 a year.

Urging government to make ‘a political choice’ to pay nurses fairly

Dame Donna Kinnair

RCN chief executive Dame Donna Kinnair said the spending review was an opportunity for the government to show it valued nurses.

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

‘Cash-strapped health services can’t increase pay on their existing budgets. The chancellor must make the right decision.’

Other campaign groups Nurses United and NHS Workers Say No are also pushing for a pay rise for nurses and held lobbying events earlier this month to gather support.

Government says nurses already benefit from existing pay deal

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care insisted nurses were already benefiting from the three-year Agenda for Change pay deal made in 2018.

The spokesperson added that the government will consider the advice of the NHS Pay Review Body when it receives it, and would continue to listen to trade unions and staff in the meantime.


Find out more about the latest move in RCN’s pay campaign

Tell your MP why nursing staff deserve fair pay


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