Prime Minister calls nurses’ union pay demands ‘not affordable’

Nurses in England have requested a 17% pay rise, but Rishi Sunak has declared this won’t be possible given the current climate.

Following the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) vote to strike over receiving a 17% pay rise, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has rejected their demands.

Mr Sunak has declared Health Secretary, Steve Barclay will sit down with unions to discuss how this can be resolved.

After meeting with the Irish Council in Blackpool, Mr Sunak said he shares everyone’s ‘respect and gratitude for our nurses.’

However, the Prime Minister added: ‘Where we are now is that the unions are asking for a 17% pay rise – and I think most people watching will recognise that clearly that’s not affordable.’

The strike, which is the first to occur in RCN’s 106-year history, will include RCN members in more than half of hospitals and community teams, but emergency care staff will remain exempt.

The government offered a below-inflation increase to nurses pay in England and Wales in of 4.75% which was due to take affect next year.

However, the RCN is calling for a rise of 5% above the 12.3% Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation rate in July, when next years pay deal was announced.

The decision on whether to strike has been speculating for months, but with the action finally taking place. it is speculated the walkout will be before Christmas although a specific date is yet to be set. 

The announcement of the strike also comes as the government is searching for spending cuts ahead of delivering the fiscal statement next week.

Alongside nurses asking the government to up their pay, NHS bosses in England have resulted to paying up to £2,500 for agency staff to take extra shifts according to a BBC investigation.

The BBC discovered NHS bosses have been so short staffed that they have been willing to breach the government pay caps for agency workers, most of which are doctors and nurses.

Research shows that out of 60 responses from NHS trusts, 10 reported the highest a health worker was paid to cover a shift was £2k, but separate data, which was given by Labour, displayed some trusts had paid workers as much as £2,500.

Agency pay rates are capped at 55% above what a normal employee would receive.

Spending in this area was also reported to have increased by 20% last year, which hit £3bn in total in England.

Photo by Matthew Waring