We must make sure the opportunity is not missed

Julie Lamberth 28 Mar 2024

I know I’m not the only RCN member working in the NHS who has been feeling frustrated at the delay in putting the Agenda for Change review recommendations into practice. Many of you have expressed your frustration to me and on social media.

And we did express these frustrations during the delay.

The areas of our pay, terms and conditions covered by the recommendations have been long overdue. As NHS nursing staff, we have a significant opportunity to see our working conditions improved.

But make no mistake, this has not been gifted to us. Our campaigning last year for Fair Pay for Nursing secured the review in the first place. We must make sure the opportunity is not missed now it is here.

Implementation plans are working their way through the system – we already have the NHS guidance for protected learning time and the 30-minute reduction in the working week, the first phase of a planned reduction by 1.5 hours by 2026, and we expect the details for the band 5 nursing roles review to drop soon.

NHS employers and managers will need to get their heads around how these changes and the impact on NHS services, patients and staff. And we need to keep them honest by pressing for working weeks to be reduced and to get the time to do the learning and development. I would encourage all nurses on band 5 to get involved in the process when it goes live in your workplace.

Some of you have asked the question ‘What if my manager says no, this can’t be done?’ about any of the recommendations. We all know how much pressure services are under but ultimately, it is not your manager’s decision - final decisions will be taken at health board level and involve the health trade unions through area partnership forums.

The two circulars we have seen so far are explicit in protecting the spirit of what the recommendation is intended to achieve. For example, for the reduction in the working week, the guidance states: ‘It is not within the spirit of the agreement to reduce time in amounts that are so small that the member of staff does not benefit from an improved work life balance; or to extend unpaid breaks.’

While all this is happening, we approach the 1 April with no pay offer for 2024-25 or even as yet the prospect of negotiations. RCN senior staff met Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, this week and urged him to set a timetable for negotiations urgently. We will continue to keep that pressure on.