Nurses could quit NHS to make more money assessing people for benefits, experts warn as strike looms
Nurses could leave the NHS to make more money assessing people’s eligibility for benefits, experts warn, as 300,000 of them voted for strike action.
New analysis revealed on Friday that nurses are working the equivalent of one day a week for free, after a real-terms pay cut of 20 per cent has hit the sector in the last decade.
Researchers from London Economics, commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), looked at pay in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland since 2010.
Tens of thousands of vacancies
Around 32,000 nurses are quitting the NHS per year at least in part because of the erosion of living standards, leaving tens of thousands of vacancies, the researchers said.
Dr Gavan Conlon, who oversaw the research, said nurses are leaving the NHS for better paid jobs.
When asked what private sector jobs nurses were turning to, he said: “You could go onto a website this afternoon and you could find many large companies working on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), for instance, seeking nurses to become health and disability assessors.”
One job advert seen by The Telegraph offers nurses, with only one year of experience, up to £44,800 a year to complete 3-4 assessments per day on behalf of the DWP.
The candidate can work from home part time, complete the assessment via video, and are not required to work weekend, night or bank holiday shifts, it says.
First ever strike ballot
The top salary a band 5 nurse can earn is around £32,000 in the NHS, while band 6 nurses range from £39,000 to £42,000. Band 5 and 6 nurses account for around 30 per cent of the nursing workforce in England, the researchers said.
It comes as the RCN strike ballot is due to close on Wednesday. It is the first time in the College’s history that nurses have been balloted over a possible strike.
The union is arguing for higher pay and immediate action to tackle hundreds of thousands of nursing vacancies across the country.
Experienced nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland would need to receive a nominal pay rise of 45 per cent by 2024-25 to restore their real-terms salaries to 2010-2011 levels, according to the research.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen has said the Government’s offer of a three per cent wage rise “makes a difference to a nurse’s wage of 72p an hour”.
But former health secretary Therese Coffey said she was confident nurses will not get a higher pay offer.
Ms Cullen added: “Patients deserve better from their politicians. Despite nursing staff working increasingly long hours and doing all they can, safe and effective care is being undermined by the failure of governments to act.”
