The government must provide certainty on an NHS pay amid a rumoured around 3% pay recommendation for nurses, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said.
The rumoured pay recommendation was first reported earlier today in The Times, who suggested that the independent pay review body representing nurses has recommended a pay rise of ‘close to 3%’.
This figure, for England, could be higher than the 2.8% that the government had initially planned and budgeted for.
The Times has suggested that the NHS will be told to find ‘efficiency savings’ to help meet the increased costs.
Responding to the rumoured pay recommendations, director of legal, employment and member relations at the RCN, Jo Galbraith-Marten, said the speculated award would ‘do little to turn things around’.
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‘Any pay award must be fully funded, taking resources away from frontline services is unfair on staff and bad for patients,’ Ms Galbraith-Marten said.
She repeated the union’s calls for the government to scrap the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) and instead engage directly with unions.
A department of health and social care spokesperson said: ‘The department has received the NHS Pay Review Body recommendations for 2025-26 – regarding pay for Agenda for Change staff like nurses, paramedics and healthcare support workers.
‘We will carefully consider the recommendations before responding.’
Speaking to journalists this morning, Prime Minister Keir Starmer was asked to respond to reports that public sector workers, including nurses, could strike if the government chose to fund pay rises via cuts elsewhere.
According to The Guardian newspaper, Mr Starmer said he didn’t want to see strike action, and said better results will be achieved by working ‘with NHS staff’.
‘So, we have got our doctors and nurses on the front line, not the picket line, and I think everybody appreciates that’s a much better way of doing business,’ he reportedly said.
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This pay recommendation was later rejected by RCN members.
Nurses on the Isle of Man are currently being consulted by the RCN on what they consider to be a ‘fair pay offer’ for 2024/25.
Earlier this month, the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing warned that some nurses are having to accept lower paid jobs to access improved working conditions, such as more flexible working hours.
Nursing in Practice – together with our sister title Management in Practice – recently launched the exclusive General practice nurse pay: A salary survey of the profession 2025 report.
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An HM Treasury Spokesperson said: ‘As is part of the usual process we are considering recommendations from the independent Pay Review Bodies and will respond in due course.
‘Last year this government accepted the independent Pay Review Bodies’ recommendations in full, providing the first meaningful real terms pay rises for years.’
