Nurses in England vote against 5.5% pay award

Members of the Royal College of Nursing working for the NHS in England have voted to reject the 2024-25 pay award from the UK government. A record 145,000 eligible members voted with 64% saying they did not accept the 5.5% award.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the pay award – expected to be paid next month and backdated to April – in July, after accepting the recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB).

The RCN said that the result of its consultation with members – announced during Reeves’ speech to the Labour Party conference – will not directly affect employers’ payments, but shows the strength of feeling that something fundamental must change for nursing pay. It is not, however, planning to ballot members for industrial action.

The Royal College said the government must now demonstrate its commitment to nursing staff by showing that its NHS reform plans will transform the profession as a central part of improving patient care.

Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN general secretary, is in Liverpool at the party conference where she is talking to ministers about the consultation results and the fact that nursing staff want bolder change.

In a letter to health secretary Wes Streeting, she said: “We are witnessing a fundamental shift in the determination of nursing staff to stand up for themselves, their patients and the NHS they believe in.

“Many will support the new government’s health and care agenda as set out in recent weeks and fully recognise the diagnosis of a failing NHS. Working closely with all other professionals, nursing staff are the lifeblood of the service. The government will find our continued support for the reforms key to their success.

“To raise standards and reform the NHS, you need safe numbers of nursing staff and they need to feel valued. Nursing staff were asked to consider if, after more than a decade of neglect, they thought the pay award was a fair start. This outcome shows their expectations of government are far higher.”

The vote comes after resident doctors – formerly junior doctors – in England accepted a 22.3% pay increase last week, comprising a 13.2% increase for 2023-24 and an 8% uplift on average for 2024-25.

Ranger added: “Our members do not yet feel valued and they are looking for urgent action, not rhetorical commitments. Their concerns relate to understaffed shifts, poor patient care and nursing careers trapped at the lowest pay grades – they need to see that the government’s reform agenda will transform their profession as a central part of improving care for the public.”

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