The Pay Review Body (PRB) for nurses, midwives and health visitors is an independent body established in 1983, whose remit is to recommend fair pay awards while having regard to:
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The need to recruit, retain and motivate nurses, midwives and health visitors
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The Health Departments’ output targets for the delivery of services
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The level of funding that the government makes available to the health service
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The government’s inflation target
The PRB will also take account of evidence submitted by the Government, trade unions and professional organisations and by NHS employers’ organisations.
Every year, the RCM submits annual written evidence outlining the case for appropriate increases in midwives’ pay and allowances. Our evidence is usually submitted in September, and a copy is then circulated to all stewards and Heads of Midwifery. We also contribute to joint evidence submitted by the staff side, which sets out the general arguments in favour of appropriate awards for nurses, midwives and health visitors.
Having received these submissions, the College and the staff side are invited to present oral evidence to the PRB. The oral evidence sessions provide an opportunity to clarify and expand on arguments made in our written evidence as well as commenting on written submissions from the Health Departments and employers’ organisations. The RCM involves midwives currently employed in the NHS to present the oral evidence to ensure the panel are aware of the realities of working in the NHS.
The Review Body normally completes its deliberations by December, and its recommendations are then sent to the Prime Minister, the Health Secretary and the Scottish and Welsh Secretaries . The Government then announces whether it accepts the suggested increases, and whether it will fully fund Review Body awards. It has been customary for Review Body recommendations to be honoured in full. The RCM is totally opposed to the staging of pay awards - it goes against the spirit of the Review Body recommendations and short-changes nurses and midwives.
The recommendations technically only apply to midwives working in England, Wales and Scotland, but are customarily applied to Northern Ireland as well.
For the latest information about the RCM’s evidence to the Pay Review Body, please see our RCM latest section.
