All eligible RCN Wales members on NHS Agenda for Change contracts will receive an email asking them to accept or reject the offer. Voting is now open until 9am on Monday 27 February. The RCN is not making a recommendation on how members should vote in this ballot – it is up to members to decide.
Find out more about the consultation and cast your vote online.
The Welsh government has put forward an additional pay offer of 3%, of which 1.5% is consolidated (carried over into future pay awards) and 1.5% is unconsolidated (applies to 2022/23 pay only). This offer would be backdated to April 2022 and is additional to the Pay Review Body recommendations for 2022/23, which have already been implemented in full. Included in this revised package are a number of non-pay commitments. The Welsh government says that this is the 'best' offer it can provide before the end of the current financial year.
Read more about the Welsh government’s offer.
Helen Whyley, Director RCN Wales said: “This additional offer from the Welsh government shows the true power of the voice of nursing and the effects of the tireless resolve shown on those picket lines.
“RCN members in Wales deserve the democratic right to have their say on this offer. The RCN will then take the required next steps and follow through to implement our members’ decision as soon as possible after the results are confirmed.
“Through this vote, our members will continue to lead the next steps in this campaign and I know they will do so with the utmost integrity for their patients and the NHS in Wales.”
Jackie Davies, RCN Wales Board Chair said: “We know that nursing staff want nothing more than to get back onto wards, back into the community, back into clinics and continue doing what they love to do: caring for their patients.
“But we won’t rest until members are satisfied that they are returning with terms and conditions that guarantee the security of the future nursing workforce and gold standard patient safety.”