Nurses in Northern Ireland will not tolerate “unacceptable delays” in implementing the 2025-26 pay award, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned.
The union said it wanted to know what uplift nurses in the country would be getting for this financial year “as soon as possible”.
“We have made it clear that the unacceptable delays in implementing a pay award that we experienced last year cannot happen again”
Rita Devlin
It comes as the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) last week handed its recommendations on the pay award to governments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
However, the details of the offer have not yet been made public.
Earlier this week, unions in England urged ministers to put forward a pay deal quickly, as it is already two weeks past the 1 April deadline.
Now, unions in Northern Ireland have echoed these calls, warning that nurses in the country will no longer tolerate pay delays.
It was only at the end of March this year that Health and Social Care (HSC) staff in Northern Ireland received their uplift for 2024-25, almost a year late.
This was due to budgetary constraints in the Department of Health in the country.
However, it was not the first time that Northern Ireland has struggled to keep up with other UK countries in delivering health pay awards.
It has, in recent years, been the country to receive, and implement, pay offers last.
Now, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Northern Ireland executive director, Professor Rita Devlin, has told Nursing Times that “unacceptable delays” cannot happen again.
Rita Devlin
She said: “Nurses in Northern Ireland have just received last year’s pay rise and we have made it clear that the unacceptable delays in implementing a pay award that we experienced last year cannot happen again.
“We are keeping in close contact with the Department of Health and minister on this issue and expect to hear more about the pay offer as soon as possible.”
Northern Ireland’s health minister, Mike Nesbitt, has previously pledged to approve the recommendations of the NHS PRB for the 2025-26 pay awards as soon as they are published.
The Department of Health in Northern Ireland confirmed to Nursing Times that it had received the report and recommendations of the NHS PRB for 2025-26.
A spokesperson for the department said: “The department will now carefully consider the detail of the report in full before formally responding to the review body.
“The minister remains committed to implementing pay awards for 2025-26 at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Concerns about pay delays in Northern Ireland were also echoed at Unison’s annual health conference, held in Liverpool last week.
Nurses were among Unison members calling to consign the NHS PRB “to the history books” and adopt a collective bargaining model instead.
More on pay in Northern Ireland
