NHS pay: could boycott of review body be good for nurse pay?
Posted 28 November 2024 - 00:01
Nurses’ unions have called on health and social care secretary Wes Streeting to enter direct pay talks with them because NHS Pay Review Body process is broken
After years of inadequate pay awards that have failed to keep pace with the cost of living – while taking far too long to reach nurses’ pockets – three health unions now say enough is enough.
The RCN, Unison and Unite are refusing to submit evidence to the independent NHS Pay Review Body (RB), which makes recommendations for around 1 million staff on Agenda for Change contracts in England. This guidance goes on to have ramifications for all parts of the UK.
Instead, the unions want to talk directly to health and social care secretary Wes Streeting about the 2025-26 pay round.
Health unions’ united front on negotiating NHS pay
This will be the third year Unison and Unite have not submitted evidence to the RB; the RCN did not do so in 2022/23 during its NHS pay dispute.
Potentially, this united front enables the unions to make a stronger case to a relatively new secretary of state. After all, he pledged to engage in talks to avert industrial action over pay. The unions tell Mr Streeting in a joint letter explaining their decision, that the RB is ‘inefficient, outdated and not fit for purpose’.
That assessment will come as little surprise to nursing and other staff who had to wait six months to receive their latest pay rise, an award RCN members in England and Wales condemned as unacceptable in college consultations.
Would direct NHS pay talks between unions and ministers lead to better pay for nurses, and faster deals?
The review body system for setting NHS nursing pay replaced collective bargaining – where unions negotiated directly with the employer – more than 40 years ago. So would returning to a similar arrangement improve pay for NHS nursing staff, and eliminate delays in awards reaching bank accounts?
Let’s take the example of Scotland, where the RCN has been negotiating directly with the Scottish Government for several years. This year, the college accused ministers of dithering for taking until August to make their 5.5% offer, which was accepted, six months after unions had submitted their cases.
That pay rise equalled the award imposed on AfC staff in England and Wales. However, nurses are paid better in Scotland’s NHS and negotiations have led to other benefits for them, such as a shorter working week and protected learning time.
There has to be a better way forward, wherever nursing staff are in the UK, because recent history shows the status quo is not working for them.
LISTEN NOW Why are NHS pay and conditions better in Scotland?