Scottish RCN members to be consulted on new pay offer

RCN members in Scotland are to be consulted on the latest pay offer from the Scottish Government, with a rejection of the pay offer leading directly to the announcement of strike dates.

The union will hold a consultation for members living in Scotland on Agenda for Change Contracts (AfC) between 5 and 19 December, in which they will be asked to accept or reject the new pay offer.

This comes after the Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf made his ‘best and final offer’ of an average 7.5% pay rise.

If the offer is accepted, nurses on AfC contracts in Scotland would see their annual pay increase by between £2,205 to £2,751. The Government’s previous offer had been a flat rate increase of £2,205.

Julie Lamberth, chair of the RCN Scotland Board, said: ‘The Scottish Government has made three offers that are real-terms pay cuts for our members. They continually fail to recognise the clinical skill, expertise and leadership of registered nurses.

‘None of the offers made to date do enough to attract more people into nursing and to keep the skilled nurses we already have.’

However, Mrs Lamberth added that it was ‘right that our members have the opportunity to have their say on what the Scottish Government says is its ‘best and final’ offer’.

If the membership rejects the offer, then the RCN insists that the ‘clear mandate’ given by the previous industrial action ballot would still stand and the union will move to set dates for strike action.

In the industrial action ballot run, which concluded in November before the latest pay offer, every NHS employer in Scotland hit the legal threshold for strike action.

This comes after Unison and the Royal College of Midwives also announced they were consulting members over the latest Scottish offer.