Health and Social Care Secretary said:
“I am hugely grateful for the hard work and dedication of nurses
and deeply regret some union members will be taking industrial
action.
“These are challenging times for everyone and the economic
circumstances mean the RCN’s demands, which on current figures
are a 19.2% pay rise, costing £10 billion a year, are not
affordable.
“We have prioritised the NHS with an extra £6.6 billion, on top
of previous record funding, and accepted the recommendations of
the independent NHS Pay Review Body to give nurses a fair pay
rise of at least £1,400 this year. This means a newly qualified
nurse will typically earn over £31,000 a year – with more senior
nurses earning much more than that – they will also receive a
pension contribution worth 20% of their salary.
“Our priority is keeping patients safe. The NHS has tried and
tested plans in place to minimise disruption and ensure emergency
services continue to operate.”
Background
- DHSC has published a media fact sheet on NHS industrial
action here: NHS industrial action -
media fact sheet - Department of Health and Social Care Media
Centre (blog.gov.uk)
- The Royal College of Nursing is asking for a pay rise of 5%
above RPI inflation. Using October’s inflation data, this would
mean a pay rise of 19.2%. This would cost around £10 billion in
total for all staff on the Agenda for Change contract. Almost all
nurses work under the Agenda for Change system which governs pay
across the non-medical NHS workforce (including paramedics,
physiotherapists, porters, cleaners etc) and means the pay award
applies across these staff groups.
- Full-time basic pay for newly qualified nurses starting at
the bottom of Band 5 will increase by £1,400, equivalent to
nearly 5.5%, to £27,055 from £25,655 last year. This means they
will typically earn over £31,000 a year including overtime and
unsocial hours payments. They will also receive a pension
contribution worth 20% of their salary. As nurses progress
through their career this can rise substantially.
- Ministers are engaging with unions, including the RCN, and
have been clear the door is open to discuss how we can work
together to make the NHS a better place to work, tackle the Covid
backlogs and deliver the care that patients
deserve. https://twitter.com/SteveBarclay/status/1592476815464886277?s=20&t=ObLdFcdYY_LsLSvyfw9TFQ
- The Chancellor announced in the autumn statement
that £6.6 billion will be provided to the NHS over the next
two years to ensure the NHS can take rapid action to improve
urgent and emergency care and to get elective performance back to
pre-pandemic levels.
- We will publish a comprehensive workforce strategy next year
with independently verified forecasts for the number of doctors,
nurses and other professionals that will be needed in five, 10
and 15 years’ time to support and grow the workforce.
