NHS nursing staff have told health secretary Wes Streeting to ‘get a grip’ on pay, as the government fails to deliver this year’s pay award on time.
Over half a million nursing staff working in the NHS should have received a pay rise from today [Tuesday 1 April] as the new financial year begins. However, ministers have now missed the deadline, despite Wes Streeting saying last year that “the government’s intention is to announce pay awards as close to the start of the pay year of 1 April as possible for 2025 to 2026.”
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has heavily criticised ministers, accusing the government of ‘failing to deliver the change it promised’ and ‘charting course for the nursing workforce crisis to deepen’.
There are currently over 27k vacant nursing posts in England’s NHS alone. Meanwhile, the numbers quitting the profession early has increased by 67%, whilst there has been a 35% collapse in those choosing to study nursing.
Nursing staff working in the NHS have reacted with fury, telling the government it cannot expect to deliver its reforms if it can’t pay them fairly and on time.
Charlie, a nurse working in a hospital in the South East, said: “We hear a lot about how we are the backbone of the NHS, even from the health secretary himself. But warm words don’t pay the bills. We are working harder than ever with no improvement to staffing levels in sight. Nursing staff and our expertise will be to vital rescue the NHS, but we’re not worthy of a proper pay rise that comes on time. It’s unacceptable and he needs to get a grip.”
Others said the health secretary’s failure to deliver a pay rise was further exposing them to cost of living pressures.
Sophie, a nurse working in Yorkshire, said: “Every day that the government fails to recognise our worth is another day thousands of us struggle harder to pay the bills. That not only makes life more difficult but also makes us lose a bit of faith in the government too.”
Repeated below inflation pay awards have caused nursing pay to fall in real terms by around a quarter since 2010/11.
Alongside a pay rise, the RCN is demanding the government deliver structural pay reform. After more than 20 years, three quarters of RCN members are on the two lowest pay bands possible for registered professionals and weighted to the bottom of the pay and grading structure.
In December last year, the government confirmed in its evidence to the Pay Review Body that it had only budgeted for a 2.8% uplift to staff pay. The RCN described the figure at the time as ‘deeply offensive’ and today reiterates its calls for a significant pay rise.
RCN Executive Director of Legal and Member Relations, Jo Galbraith-Marten, said:
“Nursing staff deliver the vast majority of care in our NHS and are crucial to keeping patients safe, but yet again we won’t see a pay rise arrive on time. The government is failing to deliver the change it promised.
“There are tens of thousands of empty nursing posts, student recruitment is collapsing and the numbers quitting nursing early is skyrocketing. By delaying a pay award, ministers are charting course for the nursing workforce crisis to deepen.
“After well over a decade of seeing their pay eroded, nursing staff desperately need a fair pay rise. If ministers have any hopes of recruiting and retaining enough nursing staff to deliver their NHS reforms, they need to act with urgency.”
ENDS
