Nurses union overwhelmingly rejects pay deal as NHS faces further strike chaos
Nine out of ten nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have rejected the government’s pay award of a 3.6% rise, increasing the risk of further strikes in the NHS.
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91% of Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members voted to reject the pay award on a 56% turnout, as the union warned it will ballot its members on industrial action.
The RCN, which is the world’s largest nursing union with around half a million members, said the ballot will go through if the Government doesn’t improve its pay offer over the summer.
The Nurses’ union is just the latest to reject the 3.6% pay increase for 2025/26 in England, after the BMA staged a five-day walkout and the GMB union voted against the deal.
It will be especially bad news for Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who has been struggling to resolve strikes by resident doctors in England seeking a 29% pay rise to account for ‘pay erosion’ since 2008/9.
The RCN said “In the largest consultation ever conducted by the RCN 91% said the NHS staff pay award of 3.6% was not enough to turn around a profession gripped by widespread vacancies, years of pay erosion and thwarted career progression.”
Turnout on the vote was 56%, and over 170,000 members in England voted. It is not currently known what the breakdown was of voters across the three countries.
Professor Nicola Ranger, general secretary and chief executive of the RCN, said nurses feel “deeply undervalued”.
“We deliver the vast majority of care in every [NHS] service and deserve to be valued for all our skill, knowledge and experience,” she added.
“To avoid formal escalation, the government must be true to its word and negotiate on reforms of the outdated pay structure, which traps nursing staff at the same band their entire career.”
Nurses in England staged several walkouts in the winter of 2022-23, which was the first strike action in NHS history.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the Government “hugely” values the work of nurses, but stressed the profession has had “two above-inflation pay rises”.
Prof Ranger said: “My profession feels deeply undervalued and that is why record numbers are telling the Government to wake up, sense the urgency here and do what’s right by them and by patients.
“Record numbers have delivered this verdict on a broken system that holds back nursing pay and careers and hampers the NHS.“As a safety-critical profession, keeping hold of experienced nursing staff is fundamentally a safety issue and key to the Government’s own vision for the NHS.
“Long-overdue reforms to nursing career progression and the NHS pay structure aren’t just about fairness and equity but are critical for patient safety.”
A DHSC spokesperson said: “After receiving two above-inflation pay rises from this Government, new full-time nurses will earn £30,000 in basic pay for the first time this year, so it’s disappointing that RCN members are dissatisfied with this year’s pay rise.
“We hugely value the work of nurses, and through our 10-Year Health Plan, we are rebuilding the NHS for the benefit of patients and staff, and ensuring nursing remains an attractive career choice.
“This Government is clear we can’t move any further on headline pay but will work with the RCN to improve their major concerns, including pay structure reform, concerns on career progression and wider working conditions.”
A poll published earlier this week found Britons are split on the idea of nurses striking over pay.
The YouGov survey found 19% of 4,300 British adults “strongly support” nurses going on strike, while 28% “somewhat” back them.
Meanwhile 23% said they “strongly oppose” strike action while one in five (20%) “somewhat oppose” it.
The RCN warning over a potential ballot for industrial action follows a five-day walkout by resident doctors in England, with medics returning to work at 7am on Wednesday.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has since written to the British Medical Association saying he is willing to meet the union’s resident doctors committee to resume talks. The BMA said their ‘door was open’ during the walkout to reach a conclusion and call off their walkout, but they “hadn’t heard from Streeting”.
Streeting has now warned resident doctors have squandered the “considerable goodwill” they had with the government after the strike, ahead of further talks.
On Thursday, a Cabinet minister urged health staff to work with the Government on “delivering the NHS they want to see and we want to see”.
Speaking to reporters in Swindon, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We know the workforce of the NHS had a difficult decade-and-a-half. We know how they feel.
“We have put substantial money into the NHS in the spending review, put substantial money into public sector pay.
“But we ask them to work with us on delivering the NHS they want to see and we want to see. We’ve got to be partners with each other.”
Nurses threaten industrial action ballot after pay offer rejected
Some 91% of RCN members voted to reject the pay award on a 56% turnout.