NURSES IN MASS.NO VOTE TO 5.5% RISE

92,000 staff hit Health Secretary with prospect of NHS strikes over pay deal

- MARTIN BAGOT

NURSES have rejected their 5.5% pay award, raising the prospect of more NHS strikes.

A record 145,000 Royal College of Nursing members cast a vote in the consultative ballot, with 64% refusing to accept the offer for 2024/25.

It is above the inflation rate of 3.5% but staff want more, saying below-inflation pay deals under the Tories eroded their real-terms salaries by 25%.

Nurses are now likely to receive a legal ballot for industrial action.