RCN: local pay would damage NHS

Published: 04 September 2012

The Royal College of Nursing has issued a robust defence of national pay systems, saying that a move to local pay would be damaging to the NHS.

The comments were made in response to the publication of the Policy Exchange report, Local Pay, Local Growth.

The RCN says there is no evidence that moving to local pay in the NHS would save the economy.

“There is no evidence that, if the NHS cuts nurses’ pay, the private sector would automatically create other jobs. These proposals would just entrench low pay in the most economically deprived areas,” said Director, RCN England, Tom Sandford. “This is a cynical attack on hard working nurses, targeting some of our most important public sector workers to solve a crisis which was not of their making.”

Agenda for Change, the NHS pay system, has flexibility so if employers choose to supplement national pay they can do so in areas such as London and the south east of England.

“By contrast, local pay bargaining has been shown to be inefficient. This is because trusts have to implement their own pay systems, forcing them into bureaucratic and expensive machinery with no economies of scale which takes money away from patient care," added Tom Sandford.

The RCN has warned that patients would lose out under these proposals as there would be a skills drain in local areas.