Nurses' union pay demands not affordable, says Rishi Sunak

The 17% wage emergence requested by a nursing national that has voted to onslaught is "not affordable", Rishi Sunak has said.

Nurses successful the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) national person voted for its archetypal UK-wide onslaught successful its 106-year history.

The enactment volition impact RCN members successful much than fractional of hospitals and assemblage teams, but exigency attraction volition inactive beryllium staffed.

The premier curate said the wellness caput would beryllium down with unions to "see however we tin resoluteness this".

Speaking successful Blackpool aft a gathering of the British-Irish Council, Mr Sunak told reporters helium shared "everyone's respect and gratitude for our nurses".

But helium added: "Where we are present is that the unions are asking for a 17% wage emergence - and I deliberation astir radical watching volition recognise that intelligibly that's not affordable".

He said the government's wage connection was successful with what had been recommended by the autarkic NHS Pay Review assemblage successful July.

The ballot backing onslaught enactment comes aft a quality implicit wage erstwhile the authorities offered a below-inflation mean summation of 4.75% for nurses successful England and Wales adjacent year.

It comes arsenic the authorities searches for spending cuts up of an autumn connection adjacent Thursday, besides apt to see taxation rises.

The RCN is calling for a emergence of 5% supra the 12.3% RPI ostentation complaint successful July, erstwhile adjacent year's wage woody was announced.

The national has argued the emergence is an "essential down-payment to reconstruct mislaid net caused by successive years of below-inflation wage awards".

However, nary UK federation has offered adjacent to that.

Nurses successful each work successful Scotland and Northern Ireland voted for enactment during a ballot whose results were released connected Wednesday. In Wales, each but 1 wellness committee did.

In England, the turnout was excessively debased successful astir fractional of NHS trusts for onslaught enactment to instrumentality place.

Scotland has offered a level complaint of conscionable implicit £2,200, which means a recently qualified caregiver would get astir 8% more.

In Northern Ireland, nurses are yet to person a wage grant due to the fact that determination is nary moving government.

The RCN, which represents astir two-thirds of nurses successful the NHS, is yet to acceptable a day for onslaught action. However, it is expected that the archetypal walkout volition beryllium earlier Christmas.

Under the union's onslaught rulebook, services specified arsenic intensive attraction volition beryllium afloat staffed. Other services, specified arsenic crab care, are besides apt to beryllium fixed immoderate protection.

But the enactment volition impact regular services, specified arsenic planned operations similar genu and hep replacements, territory nursing and intelligence wellness care.