The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is calling on all its members working in the NHS in Scotland to have their say on the pay offer announced last week
The call comes as the RCM today opens a three-week consultation with all Agenda for Change (AfC) midwives and maternity care assistants (MCAs) and maternity support workers (MSWs)
The offer the RCM is asking its members to ‘accept’ or ‘reject’ is a two- year pay offer which equates to an uplift of 4.25% for all NHS in 2025-26 and 3.75% for 2026- 27.
This is a cumulative uplift of 8.16%.
Crucially the RCM have ensured the offer is protected from any rises in inflation by securing a commitment that each year of the pay deal will be one percentage point higher than the average CPI inflation rate of that year.
Commenting, the RCM’s National Officer for Scotland, Emma Currer, said:
“It’s taken months of hard work and negotiation, by the RCM together with the other trade unions in the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC) to get to this point of an offer. We are pleased that the offer meets one of our key asks, which was to ensure it was an above inflation offer. As it’s a two year pay deal it was important that we were able to achieve that built in protection to exceed CPI . We know how hard our members across Scotland work, day in day out and it’s no less than they deserve. However ultimately the decision to accept or reject this offer lies with our members.”
The RCM says the offer will mean something different to each of its members and they have compiled clear information about what the percentage increase if accepted would ultimately mean for each pay band. You can read more about that here
All eligible members will have received a direct email today with a link to the RCM’s consultation survey. If you haven’t you can still have your say here. The RCM’s consultation will run for three weeks closing on Wednesday 7 May.
Emma added:
“We believe this offer is the best that can be achieved through negotiation in the current climate, but it’s crucial we hear the views of all our eligible members on this offer. So, we are urging our members to respond to our consultation and to encourage their colleagues to do so as well. Our work doesn’t end here we will continue to seek the further modernisation of AFC to ensure that any reform of NHS Scotland is underpinned by an agreed reform of the pay and terms condition package which is fair and equitable for all our members.”