Royal College of Nursing threatens further action despite unions' NHS pay deal with Government

Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced on Tuesday that more than a million NHS workers in England are to be given a five per cent pay rise this year and a cash sum for last year, after the majority of NHS unions agreed to the deal.

But both the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Unite rejected the agreement and said they would continue action.

The RCN said it would now ballot all of its members across England to decide whether they should hold further strikes.

Previous strike action was taken according to ballots at individual health trusts, with some voting against walking out.

In Shropshire, Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust's RCN members did not vote to strike, but those at Shropshire Community Health Trust and the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital did – and took action earlier this week, as well as earlier this year.

The fresh vote means that if members pass the threshold, all RCN staff will have the option to strike – potentially impacting more NHS services.

The majority of West Midlands Ambulance Service members are however represented by a union that supports the new deal – meaning potentially less disruption to its services.

However, there is the prospect of Unite, understood to represent around 800 of the service's 7,500 staff, voting for more strikes.

In a letter to the Government the RCN's chief executive and general secretary, Pat Cullen, said the settlement was not acceptable, and vowed to press ahead with the dispute.

She said: "Despite today’s meeting and the outcome that reflects the votes across all unions, the RCN remains in formal dispute with the Government and the NHS over pay levels.

"I entirely respect those, in our membership and that of other unions, who voted to accept. However, that was not the prevailing view of nursing staff. Nursing is the largest part of the NHS workforce and they require an offer that matches their true value.

"We understand the Government’s intention now to pay the award to the NHS workforce as a whole. Though the pay offer was not enough for our members, I have repeatedly said that the Government’s approach should be to build upon it and that remains our position.

"Later this month, we will ballot 280,000 members in England’s NHS over further strike action to be held between June and December 2023. We will hold an aggregated ballot under the relevant legislation which, if supported by a sufficient number of RCN members, would provide the legal mandate to take strike action across the full NHS."

Unite's general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: "Unite's NHS members have spoken and they rejected the deal.

"Because of this, Unite used its seats on the Staff Council to also vote against it.

"In fact, we will be escalating strike action.

"The Staff Council vote is not binding on individual unions and therefore the vote will not stop Unite representing the best interests of our members."

Mr Barclay said: "I'm pleased the NHS Staff Council has voted to accept our pay offer, demonstrating that a majority of NHS staff agree this is a fair and reasonable deal.

"It is now my intention to implement this for all staff on the Agenda for Change contract, and where some unions may choose to remain in dispute, we hope their members, many of whom voted to accept this offer, will recognise this as a fair outcome that carries the support of their colleagues and decide it is time to bring industrial action to an end."

He added: "It is the final offer, it's important that those unions recognise the collective decision."