Delayed pay offer to nurses in Northern Ireland rejected
Posted 12 December 2022 - 12:08
Offer of around 4%, similar to those in England and Wales, dismissed as RCN says strikes will go ahead
Nurses in Northern Ireland have finally been offered a pay deal, but strikes will still go ahead this week.
The Department of Health (DoH) in Northern Ireland has offered those on Agenda for Change contracts a £1,400 uplift – or around 4% – in line with the NHS Pay Review Body (RB) recommendations.
The pay offer, which is the same as the one offered in England and Wales, will be backdated to April, the department said in a statement.
But the RCN said it is ‘not a big enough step’ to address the current dispute on pay.
RCN Northern Ireland director Rita Devlin said: ‘Our campaign is about achieving a pay rise to help address the cost of living crisis, encourage people to join and stay in the nursing profession and begin to restore a decade of underpayment.
‘Unfortunately, this uplift won’t do anything to recruit or retain the nursing staff our health service desperately needs. It doesn’t recognise the skill and responsibility of the jobs our members do and won’t keep patients safe.’
Northern Ireland’s nurses have waited months for a pay offer as it struggles to form a government
Nurses in Northern Ireland have been waiting months for a pay deal as the country struggles to form a government. The announcement last week of a budget for Northern Ireland and the publication of public sector pay guidance for 2022-23 by the Department of Finance paved the way for a pay deal to be announced.
A DoH spokesperson said the department ‘will now move to implement these pay awards as a matter of urgency to ensure colleagues see their pay increase as soon as possible’.
Nurses in Northern Ireland, England and Wales are set to strike on 15 and 20 December over pay and patient safety concerns. Nurses in Scotland are currently considering the Scottish government’s ‘best and final’ pay offer of around 8%.
The RCN has said it will ‘press pause’ on strikes if the government comes to the table on pay negotiations. So far health and social care secretary Steve Barclay has refused to negotiate on pay, saying he has accepted the NHS RB recommendations in full.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the door remains open for further talks.
In other news