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Just days left to vote on NHS pay offer

RCN members in England have only a few days left to vote to accept or reject the NHS pay offer before the poll closes on 5 June

Picture: iStock

RCN members in England only have a few days left to vote on whether accept or reject the proposed NHS pay deal before the poll closes next Tuesday.

An RCN spokesperson said: ‘Voting is still open and we urge members to have their say before the end of Tuesday 5 June.’

Deal recommended

Around 200,000 RCN members working in NHS acute and community services in England are eligible to vote in the online poll on whether to accept the pay offer negotiated by unions, the NHS and the government.

The RCN is recommending the deal along with 12 other unions. The GMB is the only union not to endorse the £4.2 billion package.

Largest rise in a decade

If the deal is accepted, the college says it would give NHS staff their largest pay rise in ten years, amounting to between 6.5% and 29% over a three-year period.

Key points of the pay deal:

  • Nurses already at the top of their pay bands would receive the lowest pay rise of 6.5% delivered over a three-year term: 3% in the first year, 1.7% in the second year, as well as a lump sum of 1.1%, and 1.7% in the final year
  • The other half of the nursing workforce would receive rises of between 9% and 29%, depending on where they are in their pay bands
  • There will be improved starting salaries for all bands – newly qualified band five nurses will receive a 22% increase (£4,842) over the three years
  • The deal would not affect nurses’ annual leave entitlements or antisocial hours payments, and employers would not be expected to find funds from existing resources to finance it
  • If the offer is accepted, the first higher salary payments would be made in July and backdated to the start of the financial year in April

The debate on the pay deal has been acrimonious at times, with both those for and against it saying at RCN congress they had been subjected to harassment on social media.


Picture: iStock

Implications for the rest of the UK

The deal only applies to England, but the other UK countries are considering what the proposal will mean for their NHS staff.

The Scottish Government has indicated its intention to negotiate a pay deal that ensures NHS staff will be paid at least as much as their counterparts in other parts of the UK.

Funding for a pay rise in one country would, in theory, flow through to the other UK countries via the Barnett Formula, which makes adjustments for public expenditure across the UK.


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