RCN to ballot members on further strike action

The RCN has written to Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay to inform him that the union will ballot its 280,000 members in England's NHS over further strike action to be held between June and December 2023.

The move comes as a group of unions representing NHS staff, including nurses, voted to accept a pay offer from the government. Unison, GMB, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists and the Royal College of Midwives were among those who supported the 5% pay offer, which comes alongside a one off payment. The RCN and Unite voted against the deal.

‘At today's formal meeting of the NHS Staff Council, the representative of the Royal College of Nursing used our votes to reject the Government's pay offer of 16 March 2023. This is in line with how the majority of RCN members voted in the consultation which closed in mid-April,’ said Pat Cullen, general secretary and chief executive of the RCN.