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Nurses have paused strike action as they begin pay talks with the government – despite a recommendation that most public sector staff should get a pay rise of just 3.5%.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is getting around the table with the health secretary today to start “intensive talks” on pay and conditions.

It is the first breakthrough in a long-running dispute that saw their first-ever strike in December, plus further walkouts in January and February.

They were offered the talks yesterday afternoon and said they would pause plans for a 48-hour strike in England from 1 to 3 March, which was to involve emergency, intensive care and cancer staff for the first time.

RCN head Pat Cullen said she is “confident that we will come out with a fair pay settlement for our nursing staff”.

The union initially wanted an above-inflation pay rise of 19.2% following years of real-term pay cuts but said it would meet the government “halfway” at 10%.

Unison, which also represents nurses, criticised the government for only offering meetings with the RCN as it called for pay talks with all health unions.

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British Medical Association (BMA) members who are junior doctors – all doctors below consultant level – also announced on Monday they had voted overwhelmingly in favour of striking for 72 hours, forcing most pre-planned care to be cancelled on dates yet to be announced.

The Department for Education also offered talks with teaching unions on Monday but they have not revealed if those have been accepted yet.

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Nurses’ union ‘confident’ of agreeing deal

3.5% pay rise across various sectors

Moments after the government and the RCN agreed to talks, the government published its recommendation for a 3.5% pay rise for NHS staff, police officers, teachers, judges and prison staff for the next financial year.

The government said a 3.5% pay rise would be “affordable” – but unions are calling for much higher increases for this year before negotiations even begin for 2023/24.

In the Department for Health and Social Care’s evidence to the pay review body, which recommends how much public sector staff should be paid, it said anything above 3.5% “would require trade offs for public service deliver or further government borrowing”.

Rachel Harrison, national secretary for the GMB union that represents ambulance workers and other NHS staff, called the offer “a disgrace” and said it “will do nothing to end GMB’s NHS and ambulance strikes”.

Unison’s head of health, Sara Gorton, said the government “couldn’t have done better than this” if it was actively trying to worsen the NHS crisis and warned it “could prove the final straw” for staff questioning whether to leave the NHS.

Tuesday also saw Welsh Ambulance workers who are members of Unite setting out two further days of strike action on 6 and 10 March – on top of the current three-day strike that ends today.

As health is a devolved issue, their fight is with the Welsh Labour government.

Read more:
NHS crisis: Why are so many staff leaving the health service?
Who is striking and when?

GMB members
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The GMB union said the 3.5% pay offer was a ‘disgrace’

Police

The 3.5% pay recommendation from the Home Office for police pointed to forces having “previously indicated that a pay award above 2% for 2023/24 may be affordable”.

The document said the department was carrying on discussions with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners.

But it added: “Considering the additional funding available from the police funding settlement for 2023/24, and forces seeking to maximise efficiencies, our current assessment is that there is scope for forces to budget up to a 3.5% pay award within the existing settlement.”

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Teacher strike would be ‘regrettable’

Teachers

The Department for Education’s recommendation for a 3.5% pay rise for teachers also included 3% awards for experienced teachers and raising starting salaries to £30,000.

It said that “will be manageable within schools’ budgets next year, on average, following the additional funding provided at autumn statement”.

But ministers also said there could be more available for teachers if energy costs came down, allowing them “more headroom”.

The National Education Union (NEU) joint secretary, Kevin Courtney, said he was “pleased” the government is offering formal talks and he hopes it means they are willing to talk about pay after previous talks this year have failed to result in an offer.

But he said their offer of talks “still contains no suggestion that they are willing to talk about pay rises this year”.

There is nothing in the government’s talks offer suggesting the NEU should call off next week’s teacher strikes, the union said.

But, Mr Courtney said there is still time for an offer to be made ahead of its national executive meeting this Saturday.

Judges and prison workers

The Ministry of Justice said all judges should get a 3.5% pay increase next year, which it said would cost £23m.

On its submission for those working in the prison service, it said it would not provide a base figure and instead submitted proposals for wages depending on pay band.

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Hashem Abedi: Manchester Arena bomb plotter charged with three counts of attempted murder

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Hashem Abedi: Manchester Arena bomb plotter charged with three counts of attempted murder

Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi has been charged with three counts of attempted murder.

It comes after four prison officers were injured in an attack at the maximum security prison HMP Frankland in Co Durham on 12 April.

Abedi has also been charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of unauthorised possession of a knife or offensive weapon.

Counter Terrorism Policing North East has said it carried out a “thorough investigation” of the incident with Durham Constabulary and HMP Frankland.

He remains in prison and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 September.

Three prison officers were taken to hospital with serious injuries following the incident.

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Three teenagers charged with murder after death of man, 49, in Kent

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Three teenagers charged with murder after death of man, 49, in Kent

Three teenagers have been charged with the murder of a man in Kent.

Kent Police were called to an incident in Leysdown-on-Sea, on the Isle of Sheppey, shortly after 7pm on Sunday.

Alexander Cashford, 49, from Kent, was found dead at the scene, having suffered multiple injuries.

He was allegedly assaulted following a “disturbance involving a small group of people”, according to police.

Police at the scene in the Leysdown-on-Sea resort on the Isle of Sheppey. Pic: PA
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Police at the scene in the Leysdown-on-Sea resort on the Isle of Sheppey. Pic: PA

A 16-year-old girl and two boys, aged 14 and 15, were arrested and taken into custody shortly after.

The three suspects, who were all from London, were charged with murder by joint venture on Tuesday.

They are due to appear before Medway Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. The teenagers cannot be named for legal reasons.

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Police officers carry out searches near the scene where Mr Cashford was found dead. Pic: PA
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Police officers carry out searches near the scene where Mr Cashford was found dead. Pic: PA

A 12-year-old girl was arrested on Tuesday in Basildon, Essex, in connection with the incident.

She remains in custody while enquiries continue.

Read more from Sky News:
Jay Blades appears in court charged with rape
Backlash over police vans with facial recognition

Kent Police are appealing for witnesses who have not yet spoken to detectives to contact the force.

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‘Disturbing’ rise in abusive teen relationships – as experts warn of signs to look out for

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'Disturbing' rise in abusive teen relationships - as experts warn of signs to look out for

Marnie’s first serious relationship came when she was 16-years-old.

Warning: This article contains references to strangulation, coercive control and domestic abuse.

She was naturally excited when a former friend became her first boyfriend.

But after a whirlwind few months, everything changed with a slow, determined peeling away of her personality.

“There was isolation, then it was the phone checking,” says Marnie.

As a survivor of abuse, we are not using her real name.

“When I would go out with my friends or do something, I’d get constant phone calls and messages,” she says.

“I wouldn’t be left alone to sort of enjoy my time with my friends. Sometimes he might turn up there, because I just wasn’t trusted to just go and even do something minor like get my nails done.”

The internet is said to be helping to fuel a rise in domestic abuse among teens. Pic: iStock
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The internet is said to be helping to fuel a rise in domestic abuse among teens. Pic: iStock

He eventually stopped her from seeing friends, shouted at her unnecessarily, and accused her of looking at other men when they would go out.

If she ever had any alone time, he would bombard her with calls and texts; she wasn’t allowed to do anything without him knowing where she was.

He monitored her phone constantly.

“Sometimes I didn’t even know someone had messaged me.

“My mum maybe messaged to ask me where I was. He would delete the message and put my phone away, so then I wouldn’t even have a clue my mum had tried to reach me.”

The toll of what Marnie experienced was only realised 10 years later when she sought help for frequent panic attacks.

She struggled to comprehend the damage her abuser had inflicted when she was diagnosed with PTSD.

This is what psychological abuse and coercive control looks like.

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‘His hands were on my throat – he didn’t stop’

Young women and girls in the UK are increasingly falling victim, with incidents of domestic abuse spiralling among under-25s.

Exclusive data shared with Sky News, gathered by domestic abuse charity Refuge, reveals a disturbing rise in incidents between April 2024 and March 2025.

Psychological abuse was the most commonly reported form of harm, affecting 73% of young women and girls.

Of those experiencing this form of manipulation, 49% said their perpetrator had threatened to harm them and a further 35% said their abuser had threatened to kill them.

Among the 62% of 16-25 year olds surveyed who had reported suffering from physical violence, half of them said they had been strangled or suffocated.

Earlier this year, Sky News reported that school children were asking for advice on strangulation, but Kate Lexen, director of services at charity Tender, says children as young as nine are asking about violent pornography and displaying misogynistic behaviour.

Kate Lexen, director of services at charity Tender
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Kate Lexen, director of services at charity Tender

“What we’re doing is preventing what those misogynistic behaviours can then escalate onto,” Ms Lexen says.

Tender has been running workshops and lessons on healthy relationships in primary and secondary schools and colleges for over 20 years.

Children as young as nine ‘talking about strangulation’

Speaking to Sky News, Ms Lexen says new topics are being brought up in sessions, which practitioners and teachers are adapting to.

“We’re finding those Year 5 and Year 6 students, so ages 9, 10 and 11, are talking about strangulation, they’re talking about attitudes that they’ve read online and starting to bring in some of those attitudes from some of those misogynistic influencers.

“There are ways that they’re talking about and to their female teachers.

“We’re finding that from talking to teachers as well that they are really struggling to work out how to broach these topics with the students that they are working with and how to make that a really safe space and open space to have those conversations in an age-appropriate way, which can be very challenging.”

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Hidden domestic abuse deaths

Charities like Tender exist to prevent domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Ms Lexen says without tackling misogynistic behaviours “early on with effective prevention education” then the repercussions, as the data for under 25s proves, will be “astronomical”.

At Refuge, it is already evident. Elaha Walizadeh, senior programme manager for children and young people, says the charity has seen a rise in referrals since last year.

Elaha Walizadeh, senior programme manager for children and young people at Refuge
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Elaha Walizadeh, senior programme manager for children and young people at Refuge

“We have also seen the dynamics of abuse changing,” she adds. “So with psychological abuse being reported, we’ve seen a rise in that and non-fatal strangulation cases, we’ve seen a rise in as well.

“Our frontline workers are telling us that the young people are telling them usually abuse starts from smaller signs. So things like coercive control, where the perpetrators are stopping them from seeing friends and family. It then builds.”

Misogyny to violent behaviour might seem like a leap.

But experts and survivors are testament to the fact that it is happening.

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