Nurse Pay Rise Cap Petition Reaches 10,000 Names in Just 3 Days

Nurse Pay Rise Cap Petition Reaches 10,000 Names in Just 3 Days

A petition, set up on 3rd October 2016 by community nurse and union activist Danielle Tiplady, to end the pay rise cap for nurses and other NHS staff has received 10,000 signatures in a matter of days.

This amount of signatures means that ministers must respond in writing to the petition publicly on the parliament website. The petition will run for 6 months until 3rd April 2017 and if the number of signatures reaches 100,000 then this could result in a debate at Westminster.

Tiplady said in her introduction to the petition that nursing, midwifery and healthcare assistants had “suffered a pay restraint since 2010”. This meant that staff had lost approximately 14% of their pay which left some struggling and even pushed to poverty. In London alone, there is a shortage of approximately 10,000 nurses with more leaving the profession due to the pay restraint – which has left the NHS in crisis.

Unions have given evidence of their remuneration levels to the NHS pay review body as the annual salary review process on the Agenda for Change contract for NHS staff gets underway. These unions have called for the cap to be broken and NHS employers, representing trusts and the government will need to submit their evidence in relation to the pay rise cap before a recommendation is made.

To add your name to the petition click here.

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