Responding to the publication of the Westminster government’s NHS PRB evidence which proposes a pay award of 2.4% for 2027/28, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said: 

 

“A proposed pay award of 2.4% is on course to be below inflation and would be a betrayal of nursing staff in our NHS. It would see living standards fall for the largest workforce in the health service, doing nothing to address more than a decade of collapsing real terms pay. Our hundreds of thousands of members working in the health service will be furious today, and they are right to be. 

 

“We will not entertain this sham PRB process, nor allow ministers to hide behind it. NHS pay is their responsibility, and they will have to do much, much better than this. Ministers should negotiate directly and reach a fair agreement that puts the NHS on a better path and values the staff who work within it.

 

“When the prime minister took office, nursing staff said they would back him if he backed them, but his government is in danger of proving it’s no different to the ones that came before. Our female dominated profession, performing the majority of care in every service, isn’t a cost centre but an investment. We deserve respect and fair pay and patients want that for us, too. 

 

“Our members will give their verdict on an award when it is formally made. They will leave ministers in no doubt as to whether it is fair or enough to help recruit and retain the nurses our NHS needs.”