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RCN consultation will gauge nurses’ desire to fight Hunt on pay awards Nurses due to receive salary increment payments will be asked if they are prepared to sacrifice them in return for every NHS nurse in England receiving a 1 per cent pay rise. The RCN will pose the question in an England-wide consultation on pay launched this week and due to run until April 30. The college will also ask nurses whether it should accept a decision by health secretary Jeremy Hunt to award pay rises only to nurses at the top of their pay band. His decision went against the recommendation of the independent NHS Pay Review Body (RB), but he claimed that a 1 per cent pay rise for every NHS worker is ‘unaffordable’. However, he conceded such rises could be given if incremental pay was frozen in 2015/16. The RCN’s pay consultation will gauge nurses’ views on what action it should take and the profession’s appetite for industrial action and workplace demonstrations. RCN general secretary Peter Carter has written to MPs warning that ‘the

NATHAN CLARKE

By Sally Gillen

‘NURSES FEEL THEY ARE BEING PERSONALLY ATTACKED AND MAY LEAVE NURSING’ – Peter Carter morale of the nursing workforce is at an all-time low’ and urging them to press Mr Hunt on the issue of fair pay for nurses. ‘They feel they are being personally attacked and many are viewing this refusal by the government as the final straw and may leave the profession,’ Dr Carter wrote. He told Nursing Standard that nurses are ‘footing the bill’ for the financial ineptitude of the government in managing the NHS budget.

Dr Carter pointed to the failure to tackle the annual £5 billion fraud in the NHS exposed in a recent BBC Panorama documentary and the numbers of senior managers who received six-figure redundancy pay-offs only to be re-hired later. He said: ‘The RCN does not say increments should be automatic, but the action by trusts in addressing this has been lamentable. We must fight this pay decision.’ Northern Ireland and Wales have yet to confirm their pay deals for 2014/15. Last month, Scotland’s health minister Alex Neil announced that nurses on Agenda for Change will receive 1 per cent more in 2014/15, in line with the RB recommendations. NHS staff earning less than £21,000 will get a flat-rate pay boost of £300. Unison last week warned Mr Hunt that he was risking ‘a year of potential disruption and unrest’, with members on the brink of industrial action. An emergency motion to be debated at the union’s health conference next week will call on members to ballot for industrial action. To sign our petition urging Jeremy Hunt to reconsider his pay decision go to: tinyurl.com/pay-petition

Payroll system hitch leaves many healthcare staff out of pocket Hundreds of nurses and other staff have been underpaid over the past few months because of problems with a new payroll system. Nursing Standard has learned that some nurses are still owed hundreds of pounds. Many of the shortfalls relate to non-payment of add-ons, such as for unsocial hours or travel expenses. Problems emerged across Northern Ireland in the March payroll, but in some

NURSING STANDARD

regions there have been issues since October because of the Human Resources, Payroll, Travel and Subsistence system. Nursing leaders say that some nurses have been hit hard financially and are struggling to meet daily living expenses, such as childcare bills. Community nurses and health visitors have been disproportionately affected because of night and weekend working, and because they have not received

reimbursements for petrol, said Unison regional officer for Northern Ireland Fidelma Carolan. RCN Northern Ireland director Janice Smyth said: ‘In the current climate there are families with just one income. It means some nurses have not been able to find the money for childminders. ‘There are questions to be answered about how the new system has been implemented and managed.’

april 9 :: vol 28 no 32 :: 2014 7 Nursing Standard 2014.28:7-7. Downloaded from journals.rcni.com by Monash University on 11/21/15. For personal use only.

RCN consultation will gauge nurses' desire to fight Hunt on pay awards.

Nurses due to receive salary increment payments will be asked if they are prepared to sacrifice them in return for every NHS nurse in England receivin...
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