• Home
  • News
  • World
  • Politics
  • Money
  • Lifestyle
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Travel
  • More
    • Tech
    • Web Stories
    • Spotlight
    • Press Release
What's On

Jay Slater brags about taking £12k watch while ‘off his undies’ in unseen videos

22 May 2025

Alleged drug smuggler Charlotte May Lee ‘besotted with mystery man Rocko’ in Thailand

22 May 2025

Woman left fighting for life after using weight-loss jab as police launch probe

22 May 2025

DWP paying £921 into pensioner accounts this Friday – but they must have 2 digit code

22 May 2025

Little-known trainer’s joy as Willie Mullins swoops to buy his stable star for £300,000

22 May 2025

‘Ridiculous’ Butlin’s hack for bagging super thrifty four-night stay

22 May 2025

Rolf Harris’ daughter Bindi now – disgraced name change, shattered marriage and removed family photos

22 May 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Trending
  • Jay Slater brags about taking £12k watch while ‘off his undies’ in unseen videos
  • Alleged drug smuggler Charlotte May Lee ‘besotted with mystery man Rocko’ in Thailand
  • Woman left fighting for life after using weight-loss jab as police launch probe
  • DWP paying £921 into pensioner accounts this Friday – but they must have 2 digit code
  • Little-known trainer’s joy as Willie Mullins swoops to buy his stable star for £300,000
  • ‘Ridiculous’ Butlin’s hack for bagging super thrifty four-night stay
  • Rolf Harris’ daughter Bindi now – disgraced name change, shattered marriage and removed family photos
  • Jamie Oliver’s sausage and mash pie recipe is the ultimate comfort food
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
England TimesEngland Times
Demo
  • Home
  • News
  • World
  • Politics
  • Money
  • Lifestyle
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Travel
  • More
    • Tech
    • Web Stories
    • Spotlight
    • Press Release
England TimesEngland Times
Home » Furious nurses vote whether to accept lower NHS pay award than doctors
Health

Furious nurses vote whether to accept lower NHS pay award than doctors

By staff22 May 2025No Comments6 Mins Read

Government announces ‘above inflation’ pay awards of 4% for doctors and 3.6% for nurses and most other NHS staff who are now balloting whether to accept the deal

15:26, 22 May 2025Updated 15:37, 22 May 2025

Nurses could be back out on picket lines(Image: PA)

Nurses are furious after being awarded a pay deal less than doctors who are threatening strike action.

The Government has announced a pay rise of 4% for doctors and 3.6% for other NHS staff in England, insisting it is offering a real terms pay increase for the second year in a row.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Labour government “was never going to be able to fully reverse a decade and a half of neglect in under a year”. The Royal College of Nursing called it “a grotesque decision to again favour doctor colleagues for higher increases than nursing and the rest of the NHS”.

Doctors on picket line
Doctors are threatening strike action(Image: The Daily Mirror)

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the measure of inflation used by the Government and is currently at 3.5%. Unions prefer to reference the Retail Price Index (RPI) is a broader measure that includes owner-occupied housing costs like mortgage interest payments and is currently 4.5%.

Professor Nicola Ranger, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “This pay award is entirely swallowed up by inflation and does nothing to change the status quo – where nursing is not valued, too few enter it and too many quit. It is a grotesque decision to again favour doctor colleagues for higher increases than nursing and the rest of the NHS. Starting salaries for nursing staff remain too low.

“Nursing staff have suffered 15 years of pay erosion and this award is symptomatic of a broken system which erodes our pay each year and keeps nursing staff weighted to the bottom. Now, hundreds of thousands of our members in the NHS will be given a vote on this award. They will ultimately decide if it is enough and whether they feel valued.”

Former general secretary of the RCN Pat Cullen
Former general secretary of the RCN Pat Cullen was criticised by a faction within the union for her handling of the previous pay deal(Image: PA)

The college led its members into the biggest strike in the RCN’s history in December 2022, when around 100,000 nurses walked out in a dispute over pay. However the leadership recommended members accept a 5% pay rise for 2023/24, plus a lump sum of at least £1,655, at a time of soaring double-digit inflation. Members voted to reject the deal by 54% to 46% but then a second RCN ballot to continue strikes failed to meet the legal turnout threshold of 50%.

The RCN will now ballot members whether or not they accept the latest deal. A further ballot would then be needed to gain a mandate for any industrial action.

In contrast the British Medical Association’s resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – remained out on strike right up until the 2024 General Election and eventually received a 22.3% pay rise over two years including 2023/24 and 2024/25.

Resident doctors had already started a ballot for strike action before Thursday’s pay announcement which will give them a 4% rise plus a consolidated payment of £750. The British Medical Association (BMA) called on Health Secretary Wes Streeting to enter direct negotiations to “avert strike action”.

Nurses on a picket line
Around 100,000 nurses went out on strike in 2022(Image: PA)

Professor Philip Banfield, BMA chairman of council, said: “The Health Secretary can avert strike action by negotiating with us and agreeing a route to full pay restoration. Doctors’ pay is still around a quarter less than it was in real-terms 16 years ago and today’s ‘award’ delays pay restoration even more, without a government plan or reassurance to correct this erosion of what a doctor is worth. No-one wants a return to scenes of doctors on picket lines – we’d rather be in hospitals, in GP practices or in the community seeing patients, improving the health of the public – but today’s actions from the Government have sadly made this look far more likely.”

Mr Streeting said that the Government would not be able to “fully reverse a decade-and-a-half of neglect in under a year”. He said: “These are thoroughly deserved pay rises for all our hard-working nurses, doctors and other NHS staff,” he said in a statement. We inherited a broken health service with extremely low morale after years of pay erosion and poor industrial relations.

Wes Streeting
Mr Streeting says he’s given NHS workers another above inflation pay deal after a decade of real terms cuts(Image: PA)

“Which is why, despite the difficult financial situation the nation faces, we are backing our health workers with above-inflation pay rises for the second year in a row. This Government was never going to be able to fully reverse a decade-and-a-half of neglect in under a year, but this year’s pay increases – and last year’s – represent significant progress in making sure that NHS staff are properly recognised for the outstanding work they do.”

The Government accepted Pay Review Bodies’ headline pay recommendations for NHS staff. This will be 4% for consultants, specialty doctors, specialists and GPs, with dentists also receiving a contract uplift of this rate.

Most NHS are on the main ‘Agenda for Change’ contract including nurses, health visitors, midwives, ambulance staff, porters and cleaners and will receive 3.6%. The Government says this will mean the starting salary of a nurse will have gone up by around £4,000 over three years from £27,055 in 2022/2023 to £31,050 this year.

The Government accepted the pay awards which were the recommendations from pay review bodies which take submissions from unions, the NHS and government.

UNISON head of health Helga Pile said: “The absurd pay review body process has led to two different awards for employees. But the NHS is one team and should be treated that way. Nurses, porters, paramedics, healthcare assistants, cleaners and other workers on Agenda for Change contracts will feel less valued than their doctor colleagues. That will generate more discontent from an already demoralised workforce. So long as coffee shops, supermarkets and parcel delivery firms pay more than the NHS, staff will go on leaving.”

The GMB union is balloting tens of thousands of NHS and ambulance workers between now and July 17. GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said: “GMB has been notified of the 2025/26 pay award for NHS workers. We’re pleased dedicated NHS staff will get their pay rise closer to their anniversary date than they have in previous years. The decision on whether this pay award is acceptable is for GMB members to decide.”

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email

Related News

Woman left fighting for life after using weight-loss jab as police launch probe

22 May 2025

MP’s chilling message over NHS dentistry that’s become ‘abandonment not healthcare’

22 May 2025

Police could search your home and check your period tracking app after pregnancy loss

22 May 2025

West Nile virus major warning to public after deadly illness hits UK for first time

22 May 2025

Arnold Schwarzenegger says ‘you’ll be back’ to full health in your 50s with this move

22 May 2025

Dad, 46, died of a heart attack after symptoms were mistaken for a stomach bug

22 May 2025
Latest News

Alleged drug smuggler Charlotte May Lee ‘besotted with mystery man Rocko’ in Thailand

22 May 2025

Woman left fighting for life after using weight-loss jab as police launch probe

22 May 2025

DWP paying £921 into pensioner accounts this Friday – but they must have 2 digit code

22 May 2025

Little-known trainer’s joy as Willie Mullins swoops to buy his stable star for £300,000

22 May 2025
Stay In Touch
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
Don't Miss
Travel

‘Ridiculous’ Butlin’s hack for bagging super thrifty four-night stay

By staff22 May 20250

If you are looking to book yourself a bargain holiday, then the Coupon King -…

Rolf Harris’ daughter Bindi now – disgraced name change, shattered marriage and removed family photos

22 May 2025

Jamie Oliver’s sausage and mash pie recipe is the ultimate comfort food

22 May 2025

Murdered soldier Lee Rigby’s mum backs Mirror campaign for monument to UK terror victims

22 May 2025
England Times
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
© 2025 England Times. All Rights Reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Go to mobile version