Government won't negotiate with nursing union on pay, Health Secretary says

Members of the Royal College of Nursing being balloted on further strike action

Health workers, nurses and union members march past Downing Street in London on a previous strike this month. EPA

The government will no longer negotiate on pay with the leading nursing union, said Health Secretary Steve Barclay, as the threat of further strike action looms.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RN) last month rejected a government offer, which includes a one-off payment equivalent to 2 per cent of salaries in the 2022/23 financial year and a 5 per cent pay rise for 2023/24.

However, the deal was later accepted by a council of health unions, paving the way for the government to force it through.

Mr Barclay has called for the strikes to end, citing a “fair and reasonable deal" on the table.

But the RCN is pressing ahead with plans to ballot 300,000 members on further protest action over the next six months.

When asked by Sky News whether the government would resume talks with the union, Mr Barclay said: "Not on the amount of pay."

The union did not immediately respond to a request for comment, butt had earlier said National Health Service (NHS) staff must be paid fairly.

The relationship between the union, which has staged numerous strikes that have disrupted patient care, and the government became strained late last month,, when the Health Department limited the length of a strike after legal action against the RCN.

Meanwhile, Mr Barclay has refused to give a deadline for the publication of the long-awaited NHS workforce plan but said it would be published "shortly".

Asked on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme whether the plan would be published next month, Mr Barclay said: "The government said it is committed to a long-term workforce plan ... in the autumn statement, the Chancellor set out the commitment to bring forward the long-term workforce plan.

"We've said that we will do that shortly."

The plan was first promised in November 2018.

Mr Barclay also said the NHS needed the "international recruitment" on which it had "always" relied.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Barclay said the medical community also needs to grow "domestic supply" because migration was too high.

"In terms of the medical community in the NHS, there's two things – we do need international recruitment. That is something the NHS has always relied on," he said.

"But we also need to grow our domestic supply."

His comments came days after it was revealed net migration to the UK was estimated to have reached a record 606,000 last year, up 24 per cent from 488,000 in 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics.