The government has said it will not introduce a separate pay spine for nursing staff in England, after considering consultation responses.
Ministers have determined that the struggles being faced by nurses under the current Agenda for Change (AfC) structure are “not unique to nursing”.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) had been lobbying for a move to give nursing staff their own pay scale, arguing that the current AfC model fails to recognise modern-day nursing.
The previous Conservative government pledged to the RCN that it would look into the idea of introducing a separate pay spine for nursing staff.
It ran a consultation from 11 January to 4 April 2024 to scope out the views of nurses, other health professionals, the public and organisations.
However, it lost the general election before publishing the results or making a decision on whether to take the idea forward.
Nursing Times has been pushing the new Labour government for an update on the matter.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) told Nursing Times last night, in response to a Freedom of Information request, that the separate pay spine proposal was still a “live policy area”.
However, today, the DHSC has released an official response to the consultation and within that, it confirmed that it would not be going ahead with a separate nursing pay spine.
More to follow.
