The RCN says addressing “collapsing wages” for those at the start of their careers must be a priority for the Westminster government, especially if it wants to boost recruitment into the profession and deliver the NHS 10-Year Health Plan in England.
Our analysis shows that starting salaries for nursing staff are now more than £8,000 lower than if wages had kept up with inflation since 2010.
Band 5 nurses have seen the biggest erosion of their wages, at 21%. This group of staff, many of whom stay trapped at the same band from the start to the end of their careers, received low and below-inflation awards between 2010 and 2025 accounting to a cumulative loss of earnings of £70,000.
Tens of thousands of nursing staff continue to vote in our consultations on the pay uplifts for nursing staff employed on NHS Terms and Conditions (Agenda for Change) in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. This comes as resident doctors announced they will be taking strike action in England later this month.
Patricia Marquis, Executive Director for RCN England, said: “Ministers must realise that the only sensible choice left to them is to negotiate directly with the largest health care workforce. It is time to both deliver better pay and pay modernisation for nursing staff.”
Even using the Consumer Price Index, the Westminster government’s preferred inflation measure, this year’s pay rise is worth just an extra £5 a month for a band 5 nurse, equivalent to the cost of a supermarket meal deal.
Analysis also shows that had pay kept up with the Retail Price Index – the most accurate measure for the cost of living that includes housing costs – since 2010, the starting salary for a registered nurse would be nearly £40,000 a year.
The financial picture this year is worse still for lower-paid nursing support staff at band 3, for whom the award is worth less than £4.38 extra a month.
Patricia said: "This pay rise is derisory. It does nothing to reverse the trend of collapsing wages, especially for nurses at the start of their careers, and even by the government’s own calculations barely covers the cost of a sandwich and a drink. Nursing staff are tired of playing constant financial catch-up, often struggling to pay rent or get on the housing ladder.
“Nursing is an incredible profession, but we are weighted to the bottom of the NHS pay scales and received one of the lowest awards this year, a situation which is deepening the workforce crisis and impacting patient care. Attracting and keeping talented people should be the government’s priority, but that requires them to do better on nursing pay.”
