Responding to the UK government’s evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body which proposed uplifts in the region of 2.8% to nursing staff for the year 25/26, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said:
“The government has today told nursing staff they are worth as little as £2 extra a day, less than the price of a coffee. Nursing is in crisis – there are fewer joining and too many experienced professionals leaving. This is deeply offensive to nursing staff, detrimental to their patients and contradictory to hopes of rebuilding the NHS.
“The public understands the value of nursing and they know that meaningful reform of the NHS requires addressing the crisis in nursing.
“We pulled out of the Pay Review Body process, alongside other unions, because it is not the route to address the current crisis. That has been demonstrated today. Fair pay must be matched by structural reform. Let’s open direct talks now and avoid further escalation to disputes and ballots – I have said that directly to government today.”
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Notes to editors
In 2025, inflation (RPI) is forecast to be 3.5%, higher than the proposed uplift.
The 2.8% uplift is not ringfenced for 25/26 pay. The government has confirmed some will be diverted towards pay structure reform. The government said in its evidence:
“The government remains committed to providing the NHS Staff Council with funding to begin to address issues with the AfC pay structure. The government is currently operating within an extremely challenging fiscal position, and this funding has needed to be carefully considered alongside all other spending priorities. We understand the importance of beginning to address some of the pay structure issues as soon as possible.
“To enable us to provide this funding in the 2025 to 2026 pay year, we intend to use a proportion of the overall funding that we have set aside to invest in AfC pay. As is set out in chapter 2 of our evidence, DHSC has set aside a total of 2.8% to invest in pay for the Agenda for Change workforce in 2025 to 2026.”
