Nurses threaten new strikes after missing out on pay awards
Posted 02 August 2023 - 13:55
District and community nurses lost thousands of pounds in one-off payments over a technicality that deemed them not employed directly by NHS trusts
District and community nurses are considering strike action after missing out on thousands of pounds in the recent NHS pay award.
It comes as the government rejected calls to fully fund the 2022-23 award for all nursing and healthcare staff providing NHS services.
Tens of thousands of staff working under Agenda for Change (AfC) contracts for NHS services across district and community, primary care, social enterprises and in bank services missed out on a series of one-off payments agreed in the 2022-23 pay award because they are not directly employed by NHS trusts.
Ministers say funding payments is down to individual employers, but many can’t afford it
Instead, the government said funding the payments would be down to individual employers. But many employers have warned they cannot afford the payments.
Now district nurses in Wiltshire have indicated they are prepared to take industrial action. In a recent Unison ballot of nurses working for community services provider Wiltshire Health and Care, 87% of members who voted said they would be willing to strike.
Wiltshire Health and Care is owned by three acute NHS trusts – the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust – but as it is a partnership organisation staff were not considered to be directly employed by and NHS trust so were deemed ineligible for the one-off payments.
Unison south west regional organiser Jayne Jackson said: ‘Staff that work there are the NHS. They deserve the one-off payment every bit as much as employees directly employed by trusts.’
Petition calls on government to back payments for organisations providing NHS-funded services
Following acceptance of the pay award by the NHS Staff Council in May, Queen’s Nurse Reuben Collings launched a petition calling on the government to fully fund the non-consolidated payments for organisations providing NHS-funded services. It has been signed by more than 18,000 people.
But a government response to the petition confirmed it would not consider funding the pay rise for all nursing staff.
The response said: ‘Independent providers remain free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face.’
Wiltshire Health and Care has been contacted for comment.
Social enterprise nurses also mull action over lack of pay parity
Elsewhere, social enterprise nurses are also considering industrial action over a lack of pay parity with NHS colleagues.
The RCN balloted members employed by the Care Plus Group (CPG) in July on whether they would be willing to take industrial action for better pay and parity with their NHS colleagues. Some 93% of those who voted supported strike action.
Their pay is determined by employers despite providing NHS services. The RCN says the CPG has refused to negotiate on the 2021 and 2022 pay awards.
The CPG said it had regular meetings with the RCN in relation to pay but had to consider its financial sustainability when considering pay increases.
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