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RCN: Over £250,000 worth of hardship grants paid to struggling nurses last year

More than 700 nurses and healthcare assistants required hardship grants last year costing more than a quarter of a million pounds, a report by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned.

The average cost of the grants from the RCN was £500 per worker, and was awarded to staff on a full-time salary to cover food, travel, rent and mortgage payment costs.

The cost of the grants that the union awarded has risen hugely from a decade ago, when the figure only stood at £56,000, just over one-fifth of the current figure.

The findings also found that nurses had seen a 14% real-terms fall in pay since 2010, leading to many members of staff struggling to pay basic bills and some being forced to work two jobs to keep up with their cost of living.

CEO and general secretary of the RCN, Janet Davies, said: “It is a sad indictment that a growing number of nursing staff require financial assistance, even those on full-time salaries, simply to cover everyday costs.

“Too many are struggling to make ends meet, with some taking on second jobs or even turning to foodbanks.”

She is also the latest health industry leader to urge Phillip Hammond to put better provision in place for the NHS in the Spring Budget later this week.

“In Wednesday’s budget, the government must offer nurses and health care assistants a pay increase that keeps pace with the cost of living and not another real-terms cut,” said Davies.

The nurse’s union also warned that despite the public sector pay cap being announced in 2015, wages for nursing has lagged behind the cost of living since 2010, leaving some workers in serious financial difficulty.

The news comes after 13 health care unions warned in September last year that the lowest paid staff in the NHS could be earning less than the minimum wage by 2017, putting the government at risk of breaking wage laws if the health service was not provided with extra funding to pay its staff a living wage.

The RCN also reiterated its call for a pay rise beyond the current 1% restriction, in its submission to the NHS Pay Review Body – warning that the NHS will face serious difficulty in retaining and recruiting staff should the situation concerning staff wages not improve in the future.

RCN’s call for more NHS funding also comes after the union were part of a 250,000-strong crowd protesting cuts to the NHS in London on Saturday, marching from Tavistock Square to Westminster and listening to speakers defend the NHS and denounce Jeremy Hunt’s harsh austerity measures.

At the march, organisers sharply criticised the government’s implementation of sustainability and transformation plans (STPs)to integrate care and move it closer to the community as a “smokescreen” for further cuts to NHS funds.

The RCN commented that even though they agreed with the ambition of STPs, it also expressed concern that without proper resourcing and planning they risk being undermined and could fail before they are able to show any benefits in the long term.

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