Nurses’ consciences “will be clear” if they take to the picket lines in protest of this year’s NHS pay deal, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) chief has said.
Professor Nicola Ranger, the union’s general secretary and chief executive, told Nursing Times today that it would be on ministers, not nurses, if strike action goes ahead.
“When nursing is in such a crisis, and they already feel undervalued, it just felt like a real slap in the face”
Nicola Ranger
It comes as the RCN has today launched a consultation on the 2025-26 pay deal, which is providing a 3.6% pay uplift for nurses and other NHS staff working on Agenda for Change contracts.
In what is understood to be the single biggest consultation of the profession in UK history, more than 345,000 RCN members across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are being asked whether the pay offer is enough.
Speaking to Nursing Times at the International Council of Nurses Congress, being held in Helsinki this week, Professor Ranger said the offer felt like a “slap in the face” to the profession.
She said: “I think what we’re particularly concerned about, and upset about, is that we have the lowest of any public sector pay [group].
“When nursing is in such a crisis, and they already feel undervalued, it just felt like a real slap in the face.”
Doctors and teachers have both been offered a 4% pay rise this year.
Professor Ranger noted that nursing was already “weighted to the bottom of the NHS pay scale” and that the current deal would also see them weighted at the bottom of public sector pay too.
She added: “When nurses have raised their voices this year, particularly around corridor care and the things they’re concerned about… it just makes them feel completely undervalued.”
Nicola Ranger
The RCN is not making a recommendation for the consultation.
However, when asked if the union was expecting members to reject the deal, Professor Ranger said: “I very much hope so.”
She added: “This isn’t just about pay, it’s about how [nurses are] seen and how they’re valued.
“I’m not there to influence them and tell them what to say, that’s not my job. My job is to listen and support them, that’s why it’s their own person decision.”
The RCN said today that the results of its consultation would help decide next steps, including whether to ballot members on strike action.
Professor Ranger told Nursing Times that nobody wanted strike action to go ahead, as it “puts patients at risk”.
However, should strike action happen, she said the consciences of her members would be “clear”.
“If the government shows no sense of recognising how nurses are feeling, then of course it has the potential to escalate,” noted Professor Ranger.
“But, [with] my members, their conscience will be clear because we’ve given this government every single opportunity to act. We have spoken to them, both publicly and privately.
“This will be on them, not my members, if it goes to strike action because they have had many an opportunity now to show that they value nursing – it’s up to them to take it.”
Asked whether the RCN had been able to meet with the health secretary, Wes Streeting, over pay, Professor Ranger said it had.
She added: “I think he understands the issues, but understanding is not enough. We now need action.”
More on nurse pay across the UK
