Responding to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report 'Recent trends in public sector pay', Professor Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive said:
“This report should be essential reading for government ministers. With repeated below-inflation pay awards, and the lowest pay deal in the entire public sector last year, ministers exposed nursing staff to a brutal cost of living crisis.
"Nursing is safety critical and in demand in the NHS yet this report singles out the profession for the harsh treatment it has had in recent years. The number of people studying nursing is heading in the wrong direction as the government's NHS workforce plan fails to bear fruit. Experienced nurses are leaving for better pay abroad in soaring numbers too. These two trends are a direct consequence of the repeated political decisions to keep NHS pay down.
“This year, the government has a chance to begin delivering pay justice for nursing staff with a substantial above-inflation pay rise. Patients not only benefit directly from this approach but actively support fair pay for NHS workers."
Ends
Notes to Editors
Institute for Fiscal Studies - 'Recent trends in public sector pay'
“Real public sector pay at the end of 2023 was still 1% lower than its level at the beginning of 2007” – Page 3
“Within the public sector, some high-profile professions (nurses, and particularly teachers and hospital doctors) have seen considerably worse pay growth than the average public sector worker” – Page 3
“Looking at trends in the English NHS, nurses saw a significant reduction in real pay over the 2010s (falling 7% between 2010 and 2019) and only a modest recovery since” – Page 3
