This article was originally published on 12 January 2026. Later in the day, we updated this article to reflect the NHS pay award in Northern Ireland. 

The Westminster government has announced that the pay award for nursing staff in England employed on NHS terms and conditions (Agenda for Change) for 2026/27 will be 3.3%.

Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said: “A pay award below the current level of inflation is an insult. Unless inflation falls, the government is forcing a very real pay cut on its NHS workers. This knife-edge gameplaying is no way to treat people who prop up a system in crisis.”

Those employed on HSC/NHS terms and conditions in Northern Ireland and Wales have also received a 3.3% pay award. 

In Scotland, last year RCN members working on NHS terms and conditions accepted the Scottish government’s two-year NHS pay offer, which included a 2026/27 pay award. 

These awards will be applied from 1 April 2026 in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. For the first time in years, it will be paid on time.

Yesterday, after sustained RCN pressure, it was announced that the government had set out a series of commitments to nursing, including that every nurse paid at band 5 in the NHS in England will have their role reviewed by their employer.

We expected a different approach to this year’s pay round. For months the government had indicated that unions could enter direct negotiations on a multi-year deal. Instead, ministers have reverted to the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) process – a system widely criticised across the sector and rejected by almost all unions this year.

The 3.3% pay award will be imposed on all NHS Agenda for Change staff in England without any union involvement.

“Unions were misled to expect direct negotiations with government on the pay award, but NHS staff are getting the same poor treatment as before. The RCN and almost all other unions withdrew from the Pay Review Body because it is not fit for purpose and fails nursing staff,” said Nicola.

Your elected members on the RCN Trade Union Committee and Council will now consider the detail. They’ll look at whether this is fair treatment compared to other professions and sectors and what the government means when it asks for talks on reforming the structure of Agenda for Change.

Nicola continued: “Nursing staff will not tolerate the disrespect of other years when we were at the bottom of the pile. The evidence is clear about the impact low pay and poor working conditions are having on our profession. Morale is at a historic low and nursing staff, who feel deeply undervalued, are being driven away from the NHS.”

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