Four out of five Royal College of Nursing members back a walkout in protest at below inflation pay rises

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Nurses have voted overwhelmingly to pursue a ballot for UK-wide strike action this summer in protest at below-inflation pay rises.



Nearly four out of five members (78%) of the Royal College of Nursing who took part in the consultative vote backed a walkout, while 91% favoured industrial action short of a strike.

The large majorities reflect growing dissatisfaction within the nursing profession over wages. More than 50,000 of the RCN’S 270,000 members participated in the ballot.



Nurses will stage a “summer of protest activity”, the union’s annual conference in Liverpool was told on Sunday. A further ballot is required before any industrial action is taken.



The RCN has warned that low pay is partly responsible for tens of thousands of unfilled posts. Nurses say they have experienced a 14% pay cut in real terms since 2010 because of the government’s cap on public sector pay.



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A formal public sector pay cap of 1% was introduced in 2015. The RCN’s general secretary, Janet Davies, has warned that years of pay cuts have left nurses struggling to make ends meet.



There have been reports of staff applying for payday loans and resorting to going to food banks to supplement their diminishing incomes.



Commenting on the ballot result, Davies said: “What’s happened today is unprecedented for the RCN and is a reflection of the deep anger members feel. The current conditions in the NHS are driving people out of the profession and putting new people off entering it.



“Our argument is not with patients – this is about ensuring that they get the safe and effective care they need. The 1% cap on nursing pay is putting patient care at risk.”



Jon Skewes, the Royal College of Midwives’ director of policy, employment relations and communications, said: “NHS staff have now seen seven years of pay restraint and with at least another three years on the horizon.



“Continuing pay restraint is a disastrous, unsustainable policy for maternity services and the NHS. We are working with other NHS trade unions to break the government’s policy of pay restraint.”

A survey by the Health Foundation charity last month found that England could face a shortfall of 42,000 nurses by 2020, and almost half of all nurses believe staffing levels are already dangerously stretched. One in nine positions is vacant, according to analysis by the RCN.

Dr Mark Porter, the British Medical Association council chair, said: “Year after year of real-terms pay cuts have had a damaging impact on the morale of frontline NHS staff.



“Ongoing pay restraint has seen doctors’ pay fall by up to 17% in recent years, leading to staff shortages and impacting on patient care, and doctors across the country will agree with the very strong message sent today by nurses, that the pay cap is unfair, unacceptable and must be lifted.”

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The RCN’s industrial action will take place across the UK, also affecting the NHS in Scotland, where services, pay and policy are set separately by the Scottish government.

Ministers in Edinburgh are under intense pressure to lift a pay cap which has seen Scottish nurses’ pay fall by 14% in real terms.

Pressed on nurses’ pay by Andrew Marr on BBC1 on Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon admitted it was unacceptable to see them using food banks but defended her government’s decision to uphold the 1% pay cap recommended by the NHS pay review body.

“It is tough out there but we have done more than any other government in the UK to try and protect the pay of nurses,” the Scottish first minister said. “We have had a period of pay restraint in the public sector because of our determination to protect jobs.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nicola Sturgeon defended the Scottish government’s decision to uphold the 1% pay cap in the NHS. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

Nurses’ bursaries were protected and they did not have to pay tuition fees, unlike their counterparts in England, she said, while salaries for a newly qualified nurse in Scotland were £300 a year higher than in England.

The Scottish National party voted down Scottish Labour proposals last week to raise pay above 1%, and Theresa Fyffe, the RCN’s Scotland director, said MSPs who rejected lifting the cap should “listen very carefully” to nurses and think again.

Defending pay levels before the ballot, a Department of Health spokesperson said: “As is usual practice, the government accepted independent recommendations about this year’s pay uplift.”

A Conservative party spokesman said: “Our nurses do a fantastic job. We’ve had to take difficult decisions on pay across the public sector given the deficit we inherited – while continuing to boost the NHS budget so patients get high-quality care.



“We’ve prioritised increasing the number of nurses to help those already working hard – with 12,100 more on our wards since 2010 ... The only way we can increase NHS funding, staffing or pay is to get a good Brexit deal so the economy prospers in the years ahead.”

