RCN pay vote: Almost 28,000 nursing staff to vote on new NHS pay offer in England
Almost 28,000 nurses in England will vote on whether to accept or reject the government’s NHS pay offer from today.
Following six days of strike action since mid-December, negotiations were held between the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), along with other unions, and health ministers in late February and early March.
The government subsequently made a pay offer on 16 March. The RCN is recommending its members accept the deal.
Only RCN members employed on Agenda for Change (AfC) contracts will be eligible to vote, in a ballot open from 28 March until 14 April.
AfC is the national pay system for all NHS staff, with the exception of doctors, dentists and most senior managers.
The offer made by the UK government consists of:
• Two one-off payments for the current financial year 2022/23. When combined, these amounts are worth between £1,655 and £3,789 dependent on salary band, and are additional to increases to pay already made this financial year. These are referred to as non-consolidated amounts since they do not count towards members’ pensions and are not added to their future pay packet.
• A 5% consolidated (permanent) pay increase for 2023/24 for all those at point 2 of band 2 and above.
• A series of commitments and plans to improve pay, terms and conditions over time. These include a specific commitment to the RCN to consider a new pay spine exclusively for all nursing staff, as part of work to tackle challenges with career and pay progression with the intention that resulting changes can be delivered within the 2024/25 pay year. The offer also includes commitments on safe staffing and tackling violence
RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said: “Ministers spent many months ignoring the voice of nursing and they forced us to take extremely difficult strike action before recognising the need to look again at pay in the NHS.
“Weeks of negotiation resulted in a new offer and it’s only right that we ask our members to vote again and to give their view on the government’s proposal.
“Whatever the members decide, we will build on the last few months of campaigning for fair pay and recognition.”
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She added that members were being urged to “look at the offer in full”.
“Nursing staff have fought proudly for their profession and patients alike in recent months. Our membership has never been stronger and their determination has led to this new offer,” she said.
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Nurse ‘will say no to new offer’
Tens of thousands of nurses from the RCN went on strike for the first time in their more than 100-year history just before Christmas, then again in January and February.
The move in England to suspend walkouts followed a similar postponement in Wales.
In Scotland, NHS nurses have been offered a 6.5% pay rise, plus a lump sum payment, for 2023-2024. Nurses there voted to accept the offer but also didn’t rule out future strikes.
Many other disputes are still ongoing, with junior doctors staging a three-day strike in England earlier this month in a separate row with the government over pay.
UK
Urgent letter to home secretary over violence against women and girls strategy – as it omits child abuse
Ten child protection organisations have written an urgent letter to the home secretary expressing concern about the omission of child sexual abuse from the government’s violence against women and girls strategy, following a Sky News report.
Groups including the NSPCC, Barnardo’s and The Children’s Society wrote to Yvette Cooper to say that violence against women and girls (VAWG) and child sexual abuse are “inherently and deeply connected”, suggesting any “serious strategy” to address VAWG needs to focus on child sexual abuse and exploitation.
The letter comes after Sky News revealed an internal Home Office document, titled Our draft definition of VAWG, which said that child sexual abuse and exploitation is not “explicitly within the scope” of their strategy, due to be published in September.
Poppy Eyre when she was four years old
Responding to Sky News’ original report, Poppy Eyre, who was sexually abused and raped by her grandfather when she was four, said: “VAWG is – violence against women and girls. If you take child sexual abuse out of it, where are the girls?”
The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which is funded by the Home Office and a signatory to the letter, estimates 500,000 children in England and Wales are sexually abused every year.
The NSPCC “welcome” the government’s pledge to halve VAWG in a decade, but is “worried that if they are going to fulfil this commitment, the strategy absolutely has to include clear deliverable objectives to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation too”, the head of policy, Anna Edmundson, told Sky News.
Poppy is a survivor of child sexual abuse
She warned the government “will miss a golden opportunity” and the needs of thousands of girls will be “overlooked” if child sexual abuse and exploitation is not “at the heart of its flagship strategy”.
The government insists the VAWG programme will include action to tackle child sexual abuse, but says it also wants to create a distinctive plan to “ensure those crimes get the specialist response they demand”.
“My message to the government is that if you’re going to make child sexual abuse a separate thing, we need it now,” Poppy told Sky News.
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Rape Crisis, which is one of the largest organisations providing support to women in England and Wales, shares these concerns.
It wants plans to tackle child sexual abuse to be part of the strategy, and not to sit outside it.
“If a violence against women and girls strategy doesn’t include sexual violence towards girls, then it runs the risk of being a strategy for addressing some violence towards some females, but not all,” chief executive Ciara Bergman said.
A Home Office spokesperson said the government is “working tirelessly to tackle the appalling crimes of violence against women and girls and child sexual exploitation and abuse, as part of our Safer Streets mission”.
“We are already investing in new programmes and introducing landmark laws to overhaul the policing and criminal justice response to these crimes, as well as acting on the recommendations of Baroness Casey’s review into group-based Child Sexual Exploitation, and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse,” they added.
UK
Man and boy arrested on suspicion of arson after restaurant fire leaves two in critical condition
A 54-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy have been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after a restaurant fire in east London on Friday.
Three people were taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition after the fire at the Indian Aroma in Ilford.
Two remained in a critical condition on Sunday morning, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The restaurant suffered extensive damage in the blaze.
Two further victims are thought to have left the scene before officers arrived, Scotland Yard said.
Woodford Avenue from above. Pic: UK News and Pictures
Police are still trying to identify them.
CCTV footage seen by the PA news agency appears to show a group of people wearing face coverings walk into the restaurant and pour liquid on the floor.
Seconds later, the inside of the restaurant is engulfed in flames.
“While we have made two arrests, our investigation continues at pace so we can piece together what happened on Friday evening,” said the Met Police’s DCI Mark Rogers.
“I know the community [is] concerned and shocked by this incident.
The moment the fire broke out.
“I would urge anyone with any information or concerns to come forward and speak to police.”
Hospital porter Edward Thawe went to help after hearing screams from his nearby home.
He described the scene as “horrible” and “more than scary and the sort of thing that you don’t want to look at twice.”
He said: “I heard screaming and people saying they had called the police.”
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The 43-year-old said he saw a woman and a severely burned man who may have been customers.
Another witness, who did not want to be named, said he saw three “severely burned” people being doused by the emergency services and given oxygen.
“I can only imagine the pain they were going through,” he said.
On Saturday, the London Ambulance Service told Sky News: “We sent resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, an advanced paramedic, an incident response officer and paramedics from our hazardous area response team.
“We treated five people for burns and smoke inhalation. We took two patients to a major trauma centre and three others to local hospitals.”
The police investigation is continuing.
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