Supportive policies, fair pay, and culture: RCN launches independent sector employment standards

Fair pay, terms and conditions – including pay scales, job evaluation schemes and equitable policies for staff – are all incorporated in our new RCN Employment Standards for Independent Health and Social Care Sectors.   

For members, the employment standards state what nursing staff should expect from their employer, while for RCN representatives they highlight what they should seek from employers on behalf of members. 

The standards have been developed following an RCN Congress resolution – to lobby governments for minimum standards for employment terms and conditions for all the nursing workforce in any organisation funded by the public purse.  

Clinical Director Katherine Gerrans put forward the idea at Congress 2023. It was her first time submitting an item to the annual RCN nursing conference. She said: “It felt like the ideal way to get my voice and other voices like mine working in independent settings heard, and it was exciting to see an appetite for something less focused on traditional hospital nursing. It’s inspiring that in the space of a year we’ve seen movement on something we’ve been struggling with for decades.  

“It’s so helpful to have something we can use to underpin our conversations around levelling up our pay, terms and conditions in independent health and social care settings. There’s still work that needs to happen alongside the employment standards and it’s vital that they’re supported by appropriate funding to ensure they’re implemented, but it’s a great a step in the right direction.”   

Brian Morton, RCN Associate Director of Employment Relations, said: “These employment standards are key in outlining what nursing staff in these settings should expect, and deserve, from their employers.  

“Developed with RCN members and RCN representatives, the standards will help equip members with information and resources they need to advocate for fair pay, terms and conditions – which in turn ensures employers can recruit and retain the nursing staff needed to ensure safe patient care.   

“Employers and commissioners of services can also use the employment standards to inform their decisions when developing employment terms and conditions, and commissioning services to take account of the pay, terms and conditions of the skilled nursing workforce.” 

The employment standards have also informed the RCN’s lobbying strategy on the Employment Rights Bill which is a proposed new law to advance workers’ rights. It was introduced in parliament by the Labour government on 10 October 2024, as part of promises the party made before the general election in July – what it calls its “Plan to Make Work Pay”. The bill aims to enhance employment protections and transform workplace environments.   

The new standards cover a number of key areas in which the RCN wants the government to go further, including providing higher, contractual levels of sick pay from day one, not just statutory sick pay. 

As part of the Employment Rights Bill, the government has also committed to establishing a Fair Work Agency, a centralised body to enforce labour standards. However, it could be a significant amount of time before the bill becomes law and the agency is established, and we’d like to see swifter action to eradicate social care worker exploitation. In the meantime, the government should remind employers of their duties, particularly around exploitation.