Thank you for contacting me about nurses’ pay.
Nurses are playing an integral part of the national effort to combat coronavirus – and we owe them a great deal of gratitude for all that they do. The Government is committed to supporting all nurses now and in the future, so they can focus fully on combatting coronavirus and saving lives.
As part of our efforts to support nurses in the fight against coronavirus, the Government has committed to ensuring the NHS has the resources, staff and funding it needs so it can continue to deliver world class care for everyone, whilst keeping staff safe at the same time.
Our immediate concern is keeping nurses safe and ensuring they have the protective equipment they need. That’s why the Government is working to ensure that all NHS staff and their families are able to get tested for coronavirus if they develop symptoms, while also ramping up the production and delivery of personal protective equipment.
Everybody wants to support our nurses, and the Government is committed to doing just that. There has been some discussion online over the public sector pay cap – this is no longer in place and the Government has a strong record of increasing nurses’ pay. In Autumn 2017, it was announced that NHS staff, including nurses, would receive at least a 6.5 per cent pay rise over the following three years. As part of this ‘Agenda for Change’ pay deal, more than 200,000 nurses are benefitting from a pay rise - nurses below the top of their pay band are receiving an increase of at least 9 per cent, while those already at the top of their band are receiving an increase of 6.5 per cent.
This deal was negotiated and agreed upon with the NHS trade unions and represented one of the largest public sector pay increases in several years. We have also increased the starting salary for nurses, meaning that a nurse stating this month will be 12 per cent better off compared with three years ago.
The fight against coronavirus is a national effort, and the Government is committed to giving nurses the additional support they need throughout it.