Separate nurse pay spine consultation closes

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) launched the consultation as part of a commitment to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) during pay negotiations.

“All staff in the NHS deserve better”

The British Dietetic Association

Currently, pay for NHS staff, aside from doctors and dentists, is standardised and aligned through the Agenda for Change system.

However, the RCN has claimed that the system should be reformed to allow nurses to have their own pay scale.

Speaking earlier this year, RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said the current pay scale did not reflect the skills and expertise of modern nursing, and that it only rewarded nurses the “further away they get from patient care”.

The hope was that a separate pay spine may address this issue, as well as improve career progression and help “dispel” notions that nursing was “less skilled, women’s work and worthy of low pay and poor treatment”, added Ms Cullen.

The consultation opened in January to investigate the viability of a separate pay spine, and allow representatives of all healthcare workers to air their thoughts.

Since the launch of the consultation, several organisations have published their submissions featuring strong opposition to the plan.

Among those opposing the proposal were the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and the British Dietetic Association (BDA).

The RCSLT described a separate pay spine as “deeply unhelpful”, “impractical” and “unworkable” and said that, if it was implemented, it would be immediately challenged on “equality grounds”.

It claimed the pay spine would lead to division between nurses and other healthcare workers such as those from the allied health professions (AHPs), and that it would damage staff morale.

In a statement released yesterday (4 April), the RCSLT said: “Speech and language therapists told us the plan ‘is divisive’, ‘all the points raised in the consultation are relevant to AHPs’ and that ‘the impact would be demoralising for the AHP workforce’.

“Instead, we call for a recognition by government and commissioners that even where services are fully staffed, demand is far exceeding capacity; a system-wide approach where success is based on delivering improved outcomes; and appropriate clinical and professional leadership roles.”

Meanwhile, the BDA, which represents dietitians, encouraged its members to oppose the separate pay spine, which it dubbed “unacceptable”.

A BDA statement on the consultation read: “It goes against the ethos of Agenda for Change, which was implemented in order to ensure that all non-medical staff receive equal pay for work of equal value and that the contribution of all receives proper recognition.

“The current recruitment and retention crisis in the NHS is not limited to nurses, it applies equally to BDA members, midwives, radiographers, physiotherapists, podiatrists, and other professions who have also expressed their opposition.

“The introduction of a stand-alone pay system for nurses would be divisive and unfair and will inevitably result in a surge in equal pay cases.”

The BDA accused the RCN of “ask[ing] for special treatment” for nurses.

“All staff in the NHS deserve better,” the union added.

Other unions have also opposed the proposal.

The GMB and Unison, which represent healthcare staff including nurses, both claimed that a separate pay spine would drive a wedge between nurses and the rest of the workforce and vehemently opposed it.

Opposition has also been aired from the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the Royal College of Midwives, the British and Irish Orthoptic Society and the Royal College of Podiatry.

Meanwhile, NHS Providers, last month, published its response based in part on a survey of NHS trust leaders from earlier in the year.

It acknowledged that the Agenda for Change pay structure was “creating issues” for the career progression and development of nursing staff in the NHS, but rejected the introduction of a separate pay spine.

Almost three quarters (71%) of trust leaders in NHS Providers’ survey agreed that any changes to the Agenda for Change pay spine should be “for the benefit of all staff within its scope”.

“Speech and language therapists told us the plan ‘is divisive’”

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists

Further, the organisation said that there would be risks and “unintended consequences” of separating nursing staff out, namely that it could “undermine” the entire pay structure.

The document stated: “There is also a risk that a separate pay spine for nursing staff would fracture relationships between staff groups against the backdrop of ongoing and unresolved industrial action in the NHS.”

The RCN itself called for members’ thoughts on the consultation when it opened in January, but has yet to publish its response to the DHSC.

The consultation closed just before midnight on 5 April.

The government will now review the submissions and use the findings “to consider its position in relation to supporting nursing recruitment, retention and professional development in the NHS”, according to the consultation document.