As cost of living grows, a 1% rise won’t go far

A pay rise of no more than 1% is what nurses in England can expect in the coming year. This – coupled with fewer automatic incremental pay increases year on year under the national pay system Agenda for Change and more links to performance – is in the health department’s main evidence to the independent pay review body.

The 1% figure is no surprise. In his summer budget, Chancellor George Osborne insisted there would be four more years of pay restraint, capping pay rises at an average of 1% in the public sector until 2020.

But in its evidence the health department has also rejected targeting the pay award to specific NHS staff groups – as had been proposed by health minister Lord Prior of Brampton – opting for an across-the-board increase instead. In doing so it has admitted that targeting a pay increase would not be the staff motivator some had hoped it might be.

Unions agree that an across-the-board figure ensures fairness for all, and discussions are needed on reducing the number of increments on pay scales. Talks over reform have been held up because of the junior doctors’ strike. The final recommendation from the pay review body for England, Scotland and Wales is expected in March. In Northern Ireland – where salaries are lower – the RCN is to decide on balloting members on industrial action short of strike action after a belated decision on a 2015 pay award.

While 1% is expected and the government will, no doubt, argue that in times of economic austerity it is all it can afford, for many nurses this will represent a pay cut. Despite the Consumer Price Index inflation measure running at 0.1%, with the cost of food and fuel falling, for those living in the rented sector, in particular, bills are rising far faster. If you are a band 5 nurse working in London, for example, how far will 1% go?

There is also widespread concern about the lack of nurses in the capital and the RCN estimates England is short of 20,000 nurses. In this week’s issue, we focus on the state of general practice nursing with the Queen’s Nursing Institute warning that one third of practice nurses will retire by 2020.