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Nurses’ pay: no word as yet on offer before parliament’s summer recess

Rumoured 3% offer falls short of RCN’s 12.5% demand

Rumoured 3% offer falls short of RCN’s 12.5% demand, but more than the widely criticised 1% previously offered

Nurses protest the government’s offer of a 1% pay increase
Picture: Hesther Ng/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

Nurses are still waiting to hear what sort of pay rise they will be offered this year, just days before parliament goes into summer recess.

Health unions baffled by lack of pay announcement

Numerous reports indicate the government will offer a 3% pay rise for Agenda for Change staff for the 2021-22 pay round. This would fall short of the 12.5% pay rise the RCN is calling for, but more than the government’s previous 1% suggestion, which provoked widespread criticism earlier this year.

The independent NHS Pay Review Body made its pay recommendation to the government weeks ago, leaving unions asking why a pay announcement had not yet been made ahead of the summer recess on 22 July.

The RCN set up a £35 million strike fund in response to the ‘insulting’ 1% pay suggestion made in March.

Low-level pay awards an ‘insult’ to nursing staff, says RCN

RCN interim general secretary Pat Cullen said the government now had a historic opportunity to show how much it valued NHS staff. ‘Pay is as crucial to NHS recovery in the coming years as any other piece of investment.

‘Low-level awards of a couple of per cent would look timid and insult staff when the challenges they face have never been greater.’

Meanwhile, dozens of campaigners handed in an 800,000-strong petition to Downing Street on Tuesday, calling for a 15% pay rise for NHS staff. NHS staff grass roots campaign group NHS Workers Say No organised the rally, backed by the GMB union.


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