The Pay Consultation - A View from Julie Richards and Natalie Linder

By Julie Richards and Natalie Linder on 02 May 2018 Pay and Agenda For Change

Following the negotiations with employers since December 2017 to come up with a Framework agreement combining both pay and structural reform of Agenda for Change, here is what the Chair and Vice Chair of the RCM Board had to say about the pay consultation. 

"The proposed pay deal which the RCM is currently consulting members on and the Board are recommending that members accept is significant in that it includes new money coming in to the NHS so does not rely on already stretched NHS budgets. Though the pay award doesn’t make up for 8 years of pay restraint it is the best in the public sector and marks the beginning of trade unions once again being able to negotiate for fair pay on behalf of members. We believe it is unlikely the government would agree to reopen negotiations and any decision from the Pay Review Body would be subject again to pay restraint and come out of existing NHS budgets.

The structural reform aspect of the deal addresses the long-standing aims of the RCM and other trade unions to remove overlaps in pay bands which currently mean you could be promoted but paid less than a junior colleague and also increase starting pay for new MSWs and midwives coming into the profession with student debt. The protection of unsocial hours payments also means that the extra money which members often rely on is not devalued and we continue to be rightly rewarded for providing a 24/7 service."

By Julie Richards Chair of the RCM Board and Natalie Linder Vice Chair of the Board.