General practice nurses (GPNs) must not be expected to wait any longer for news on their pay for 2025/26, the chief executive and general registrar of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said today.
In a keynote address at RCN Congress today, Professor Nicola Ranger demanded an update on pay for those in the NHS and general practice, and stressed that all nurses needed a ‘significant pay rise’ urgently.
For those working in general practice, Professor Ranger said nurses should be given ‘at least the same uplift’ as those on Agenda for Change and must not be ‘expected to wait even longer’ for an update on their pay.
Last month the government in England was handed recommendations from the relevant pay review bodies for nurses and other health workers across the NHS and within general practice.
And some weeks later, rumours began that it was going to be recommended that NHS nurses were given an 3% uplift.
In December 2024, the government told both the NHS Pay Review Body and the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) – for GPs and general practice staff – that it had planned for a pay rise of 2.8% for 2025/26.
Today, Professor Ranger urged the government to ‘stop the dither and delay’ and make announcements on the 2025/26 pay awards that were due six weeks ago.
‘Let us know what we’re really dealing with,’ she told RCN Congress.
And she stressed that NHS employers needed to be given ‘the full money’ to pay any uplift.
‘Anything else is a cut to patient services,’ she said.
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In recent years, GPNs have raised concerns that their employers have not been passing on the full pay uplifts promised by the government.
The potential for NHS strike action
Professor Ranger explained to those working in the NHS that it was up to them to ‘decide how you feel’ about pay and whether strike action was needed.
‘I’m not here today to tell you we’re going on strike,’ she said.
‘And I’m not here today to tell you were not going on strike this year either.
‘That’s not my call. You will decide how you feel. And we’ll plan together the best way to get what nursing needs.
‘But to ministers I will say this: do not sail too close to the wind.’
Financial incentives needed to bring Gen Z into nursing
Professor Ranger also stressed how low pay and the risk of working in underfunded services was stopping young people from considering nursing as a career.
The RCN head urged the government to raise starting salaries, ‘forgive’ student loans and use Gen Z’s ‘passion for care and public service’ to help solve the nurse workforce crisis.
‘Without enough young people, the ‘ticking time bomb’ of large-scale retirement will remain,’ she warned.
Professor Ranger used her keynote address to call for the new and increased starting salaries for nurses in all four UK nations, with better financial incentives for students and coordinated government recruitment campaigns to bring more young people into nursing.
‘Gen Z are the future of our profession and key to transforming health and care for decades to come.
‘Unlocking their talent and potential must be an urgent priority for every government’, she said.
‘That must mean stronger financial incentives to study nursing and better starting salaries for new recruits, underpinned by modern campaigns that reach young people where they are, on social media, in schools and colleges,’ she added.
The RCN has called for starting salaries in England to increase to around £35,000 from £29,970.
Related Article: Almost 80% of GPNs ‘unsatisfied’ with government’s handling of general practice
It has also been demanding the government write off student loans for those working in the NHS or wider public services on graduation, alongside introducing increased and universal maintenance grants for nursing students.
Nursing in Practice – along with our sister title Management in Practice – recently launched the exclusive General practice nurse pay: A salary survey of the profession 2025 report.
The crisis of corridor care
The RCN chief also warned that current hospital staffing levels were ‘dreadfully unsafe’ – with one registered nurse to 15 to 20 registered patients in some cases.
She referred to a nurse who described being left in charge of 40 patients, and said current working conditions were ‘taking advantage’ of nurses’ ‘goodwill’.
The union is campaigning for the introduction of safe nurse to patient ratios across the UK and is today launching its updated Nursing Workforce Standards.
‘Safety is not an optional extra – it should be the standard,’ Professor Ranger said.
‘The Royal College of Nursing will bring together all of the evidence and advice, for every setting. To support every individual to work safely.’
Related Article: Practice nurses earn average of just over £35,000, salary survey report shows
Today a government spokesperson said: ‘This government inherited a broken NHS with an overworked, undervalued and demoralised workforce.
‘We hugely value the work of talented nurses and midwives, and through our Plan for Change, we are rebuilding the NHS for the benefit of patients and staff, and ensuring nursing remains an attractive career choice.
‘One of the first acts of this government was to award nurses an above-inflation pay rise for the first time in years, because we recognise that their pay has been hit over previous years.
‘We are carefully considering the recommendations from the NHS Pay Review Body and will update as soon as possible.’
