The recommendation of 2.8% is slightly ahead of the UK inflation rate of 2.3% but the RCN says it does little to reverse the long-term erosion of nursing pay since 2010.
‘The Government has today told nursing staff they are worth as little as £2 extra a day, less than the price of a coffee,’ said RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger. ‘This is deeply offensive to nursing staff, detrimental to their patients and contradictory to hopes of rebuilding the NHS.’
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Previous reports from the NMC leavers survey already found that nurses were quitting early in their careers due to burnout and lack of Government recognition, leading to nurses leaving the profession at increasingly rapid rates. This, alongside reports that fewer students were being accepted onto nursing courses and joining the workforce, nursing unions such as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) expressed their frustration at the small scale of the increase.
‘The public understands the value of nursing and they know that meaningful reform of the NHS requires addressing the crisis in nursing,’ says Professor Ranger.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) submitted a new evidence report to the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) to make recommendations for 2025/26, proposing a 2.8% pay increase. The report stated:
‘The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has set aside 2.8% to fund recommendations for both NHSPRB and Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) remit groups. DHSC view this as a reasonable amount to have set aside based on the macroeconomic data and forecasts and taking into account the fiscal and labour market context.’