Following in Welsh footsteps, it has been announced that nurses in Northern Ireland will receive their 2.5% pay in full, backdated to 1 April 2007.
The decision leaves only English nurses with the controversial staged pay increase, after Scotland and Wales both celebrated full pay rises earlier this summer.
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Northern Ireland Director Mary Hinds said: “On behalf of nurses throughout Northern Ireland, we congratulate the Executive on making the decision that nurses will be treated fairly and on the same level as their counterparts in Scotland and Wales.
“This is a positive step for nursing in Northern Ireland.”
She commends Health Minister Michael McGimpsey for being “prepared to listen to our case and to support and recognise the value of nurses,” and is similarly grateful to Finance Minister Peter Robinson for facilitating the award.
RCN General Secretary Peter Carter commented: “We are pleased that nurses in Northern Ireland, like their colleagues in Wales and Scotland, will now receive their pay award in full.
“However, we now have the ludicrous situation whereby nurses in England are earning less than those in the rest of the United Kingdom.
“We hope that ministers in England will now honour the recommendations of the independent pay review body.”
