RCN Yorkshire and the Humber is campaigning for a meaningful pay award for staff employed by the Care Plus Group (CPG) and pay parity with NHS employers.

CPG is a social enterprise organisation providing NHS adult health and social care services to the people of Grimsby and Northern Lincolnshire. Even though CPG delivers NHS services, its staff do not receive pay, terms and conditions that match Agenda for Change in the NHS.

'We receive £5,000 a year less than our NHS counterparts’

“More than ever people are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. People are leaving community health services or disregarding it as a career option.” 

Read what our members have to say and why their fight matters in the RCN magazine and watch our short video.

As part of our fair pay campaign we have been calling on both CPG and the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to:

• Urgently discuss how to resolve the current pay dispute.
• Work to ensure that nursing staff employed by CPG are paid the same as their NHS colleagues on Agenda for Change pay rates. 

Please show your support for RCN members at CPG by signing our petition. Click here to sign.

Industrial strike action

Despite the campaign, CPG ignored its staff and imposed a 1% pay increase. In July 2023, the RCN balloted CPG members on whether they would be willing to take industrial strike action. A majority of members who responded to the ballot conducted by an independent scrutineer voted in favour of strike action with 93% of those who voted, voting ‘yes' Read more here.   

Strike action is a last resort for nursing staff and follows years of below inflation pay increases. Unfairly low pay in the profession is driving chronic understaffing which puts patients at risk and leaves nursing staff overworked, underpaid and undervalued.

RCN members took strike action on a number of dates from August 2023 through to January 2024 and also marched through Grimsby and Cleethorpes to raise the profile of the dispute.

The campaign continues

However CPG continues to refuse to enter into any meaningful discussions with the RCN to settle this pay dispute. 

CPG and the Humber and North Yorkshire ICB could resolve this dispute quickly by ensuring that nursing staff employed by CPG are paid the same as their NHS colleagues. Read more background here.

RCN members are planning the next steps in the campaign. In the meantime support our campaign. Add you name to our petition today and tell the Care Plus Group and the Humber and North Yorkshire ICB that enough is enough.

Independent Health and Social Care

A significant and growing number of our members work in independent health and social care (IHSC). This diverse group includes all nursing staff employed in settings outside the NHS. That could be care homes, nursing agencies, private hospitals or somewhere else entirely. It also includes members – such as general practice nurses – who may provide NHS services but not be employed on Agenda for Change contracts. Read more here