More than 300,000 members will receive ballot papers from 6 October, launching the RCN’s first-ever strike ballot in its 106-year history.
A below inflation NHS pay award has been announced in England and Wales, and a below inflation NHS pay offer has been made in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, nurses are still awaiting a pay announcement for HSC staff, meaning members there are once again worse off compared to their colleagues in other parts of the UK, the RCN says.
According to the RCN, a pay rise of 5% above inflation is necessary to overcome a decade of real-terms pay cuts, support nursing staff through the cost-of-living crisis and recognise their safety critical skills. The College says that only by paying nursing staff fairly will the NHS be able to retain existing and recruit new nursing staff to the safety critical roles they do.
‘We are understaffed, undervalued and underpaid. For years our profession has been pushed to the edge, and now patient safety is paying the price. We can’t stand by and watch our colleagues and patients suffer anymore,’ said RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen.
‘Though strike action is a last resort, it is a powerful tool for change. And we must demand that change. Enough is enough. I urge you to vote ‘yes’ in this ballot.’
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The news comes as an analysis by the consultancy London Economics revealed that nurses’ real term earnings had fallen by 6% in the last decade, almost 3% more than private sector employees’ pay.
‘Governments have repeatedly neglected the NHS and the value of nursing. We can change this if together we say, enough is enough’ said Ms Cullen.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) responded to the analysis saying ‘we value the hard work of NHS nurses and are working hard to support them including by giving over 1 million NHS workers, including nurses, a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year, as recommended by the independent NHS Pay Review Body’.
Billy Palmer, Senior Fellow at the think tank Nuffield Trust, said: ‘aspects of the settlement for nurses represent only negligible increases – one additional uplift given to some more experienced nurses, which seeks to improve retention of these staff, is only worth around 43p a working day’.
NHS pay awards were not increased to 5% above inflation as expected to by the RCN and did not match the rising cost of living.