The Royal College of Nursing is today warning that thousands of nursing staff working in general practice in England risk being denied the full six percent pay rise that they were promised by the Westminster government.
More than halfway through the financial year, nurses are still without the pay rise announced by ministers in the summer.
The RCN has written to Neil O’Brien, the Minister for Primary Care, with a clear message to ministers that this is not acceptable.
The funds for the pay rise will be made available to practices this November, through an increase of the Global Sum. Ahead of this, the RCN is calling on the government to confirm the status of nursing pay in general practice in England for this financial year, and to commit to additional funding if nursing staff are left without at least the six per cent that was announced in July. The Global Sum is based on patient numbers, and some practices have raised concerns that they will not have enough funds to cover the pay rise for all staff.
The RCN is also asking the government to give clarity on what guidance has been issued to general practices to ensure staff receive their pay rise fairly and swiftly.
To put further pressure on the government, the RCN has also issued a joint statement with the BMA General Practitioners Committee to emphasise the importance of providing the pay award to all staff without further delay.
General practice nursing staff are at the heart of the communities that they serve – and play a fundamental role in health promotion and preventative medicine. It is essential that nursing staff can trust the government to pay them fairly.
In July, the government announced general practice staff should receive a backdated pay rise of six per cent to April 2023.
In her letter to Neil O’Brien, Minister for Primary Care, Royal College of Nursing Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said:
“Nursing staff in general practice provide vital primary care to their local communities and are the bedrock of the services available in general practice surgeries. There is already clear disparity between employment terms of nursing staff working in general practice compared to other parts of the NHS. Now, their pay rise is months late, and for many the money promised could be missing.
“The RCN is unequivocal that all nursing staff working in general practice should receive the same 6% increase in pay as salaried GPs – as the government announced in July. Since that time, it has become clear that this promised increase is at risk for many working in practices that will not receive the full funding.
“Our members working in general practice play a critical role in preventative care, early detection and addressing the backlog in primary care services. They already feel undervalued, and uncertainty over whether they will receive a pay uplift which your department made clear they are entitled to but may never come, will only compound this.”
The RCN will work with members to report issues to local medical committees and government if the promised pay rise is not received in a timely manner.
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Notes to editors
Joint RCN/ BMA GPCE statement on 6% pay uplift for general practice staff in England
Approximately half the money a practice receives is from the Global Sum payment for delivering the core parts of its contract, based on an estimate of a practice’s workload and certain costs.
The following detail was released in July 2023 and remains on the government website:
