RCN Wales rejects Welsh government additional offer for 2022/23
Tuesday 28 February
RCN Wales has formally requested, in writing to the Minster for Health and Social Services, that negotiations recommence urgently to resolve our dispute. If the Minister doesn’t respond within five working days, the RCN Wales Board has agreed that RCN Wales will resume planning for further strike action and further dates will be announced in due course.
RCN Wales Director, Helen Whyley, said: “Let’s be clear: this offer has not been accepted by RCN members. Our eligible members were balloted on the Welsh government’s additional pay offer. The RCN is the voice of nursing - our members make up the vast majority of the nursing workforce in the NHS in Wales. They understand best the direct impact it would have, and they have spoken with strength to overwhelmingly reject this offer. We therefore remain in dispute.
“I have today written to the Minister to urge the Welsh government to return to the table to negotiate directly with RCN. If this does not happen within the five working days I set out in my letter, I will have no other option but to announce further dates for strike action.
“Strike action is always the last resort; our members do not want to strike, but this additional offer does not restore the years of being undervalued and understaffed. Nursing staff feel, once again, that they have left them with no alternative. The Welsh government must take urgent action to bring this long-standing dispute to a close.”
ENDS.
Notes to Editors
The consultative ballot was open to RCN members working on Agenda for Change contracts in NHS Wales between 10-27 February. Members were asked whether they accept or reject the Welsh government’s offer. Members voted to reject the Welsh government’s offer.
The Welsh government put forward an additional pay offer of 3%, of which 1.5% is consolidated (carried over into future pay awards) and 1.5% is unconsolidated (a lump sum in 2022/23 only). This offer would be backdated to April 2022 and is additional to the Pay Review Body recommendations for 2022/23 which have already been implemented in full. Included in this revised package are several non-pay commitments. Read the Welsh government’s written statement.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK and is the largest professional union of nursing staff in the world. The RCN promotes the interests of nurses and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape healthcare policy by working closely with the UK Government and other national and international institutions, trade unions, professional bodies and voluntary organisations.
For more information, contact the RCN Wales press office at 02920 680 769 or email mediawales@rcn.org.uk
Page last updated - 29/07/2023
