Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to ensure the adequate remuneration of nurses at all pay bands.

In June 2018 we agreed the Agenda for Change three year pay and contract reform deal which will see nearly one million National Health Service workers benefit over three years.

The deal gave all staff, including nurses in all pay bands, a pay rise of at least 3% for 2018/19. Over the course of the three years, nurses at the top of their pay band will receive a total pay increase of 6.5% and those below the top of their pay band, due to reforms to the pay structure (higher starting pay and fewer pay points), will see pay rises of between 9% and 29%.

The basic pay for a newly qualified nurse will rise from £22,128 to £24,907 over the three years.

In addition to basic pay, nurses are paid for working unsocial hours and an additional allowance if they work in and around London. The average earnings of a qualified nurse as at December 2018 was £32,280.

The deal was negotiated and agreed with the NHS trade unions and supported by the independent NHS Pay Review Body.