£10.60 for qualified nurse-stay or walkout

[user1471462428]

I’ve been in my new job for a couple of weeks, I had asked the company to clarify my wages when I first started but the manager was unable to. She did state the generally paid around £14 an hour (this is low for nursing but I was willing to accept it). I’ve just got my first wage slip and it’s £10.60 an hour, it feels like an insult I have to pay a registration fee to be a nurse and once that is deducted I won’t be far off the minimum wage. I have over a decade nursing experience and I will only be paid a pound more than their health care assistant. I’m wondering whether I should walk out? I haven’t been given a contract and feel I’ve been deceived.

thank you all, yes i managed DN's

Op still hasn'r confrmed that she is being employed as a nurse?

Employer is legally required to provide contracted terms either in an email or document at the latest in day 1.
Band 5 registered nurse at GP practice minimum £14.50 at some places but I've lways paid £15 - £19 DOE. Sounds like they've recruited you to a HCA pay level job and are hoping you'll do more for free. Disgusting. Private providers earn loads more than NHS. Go and work on Bank until you find something.

Yes that is incredibly low for a qualified nurse position

Your comment about it will be near NMW once tax etc deducted is neither here nor there as NMW is gross and has tax etc deducted afterwards too.

However, your manager told you it would be approx £14 per hour, and you now have been underpaid to what you agreed to start the job under. I would think about signing on as an agency worker and take the higher rate of pay until you get a permanent position that respects your qualifications. As a nurse you have registration expenses , expectations and responsibilities that a care worker does not have.
Qualified nurses usually earn £33-35,000 pa

@RickiTarr

I would object to the idea that £10.20 an hour is ‘insultingly low’. Clearly it’s not going to allow a luxury lifestyle but an annual salary of over £22,000 is competitive and a lot higher than many jobs in the U.K.

It’s insultingly low for a specialist graduate occupation, with ongoing professional registration requirements and high responsibility levels.

This.... You can get a job anywhere. You are not beholden to the private sector. Join a hospital bank and class it as valuable experience. Put yourself about, be flexible while you can and gain as much broad experience as you can. Listen and learn and a job will come up. Value your skills, you will be able to take them anywhere in the world

I agree, just walk. They are a chaotic, cheapskate organisation. They will hang you out to dry if anything untoward should happen. Especially expecting you to triage - a highly-skilled, specialist role.

Yes get out of there, don't go through an agency in future, and make sure you get a contract before your first day.

I found this on U.K. website
It shows newly starting nurses on lower bands as not hugely well paid but then they have all the other training snd suppprt around them

www.nurses.co.uk/careers-hub/nursing-pay-guide/#nhs-pay-table-agenda-for-change-2020-21

If I were you I'd contact nursing local agencies to ask (they pay higher anyway) so you get a sense but no one here believes £10.60/hour is a reasonable rate of pay for qualified nurse

*Nursing locum agencies I meant

@godmum56

thank you all, yes i managed DN's

Op still hasn'r confrmed that she is being employed as a nurse?

Yes she has, she said it says RN on her payslip.

[quote TreeLeaf4]@user1471462428

If there has been a pay review, it may well be that £10.60 is the new rate for nurses.

I strongly suspect that your employer (like many) has been under pressure to reduce costs.

DH has has to reduce the number of catering, cleaning and maintenance staff at his school. Teachers will now carry out the majority of these roles. The remaining auxiliary staff will now be on NMW.[/quote]
You can’t do a pay review and not look at availability of staff into account - unless you are a total idiot. If they can’t pay market rates they won’t get staff and they won’t survive, it doesn’t matter how hard things are at the moment- nurses are in short supply, under paying them is not a good business strategy.

Why was the pay not clarified before accepting the role? If you've been told that the wages are £14 per hour then you need to have a conversation with the person and find out what is happening asap

thank you @RagzReturnedRebooted I missed that

@threeteenstaximum

I found this on U.K. website It shows newly starting nurses on lower bands as not hugely well paid but then they have all the other training snd suppprt around them

www.nurses.co.uk/careers-hub/nursing-pay-guide/#nhs-pay-table-agenda-for-change-2020-21

If I were you I'd contact nursing local agencies to ask (they pay higher anyway) so you get a sense but no one here believes £10.60/hour is a reasonable rate of pay for qualified nurse

Newly qualified nurses in the NHS ,should have yearly incremental increase ,s untill they are at the top of their band plus if they work shifts and weekend,s etc they will also get enhancement s on top of their basic pay .

@threeteenstaximum

I found this on U.K. website It shows newly starting nurses on lower bands as not hugely well paid but then they have all the other training snd suppprt around them

www.nurses.co.uk/careers-hub/nursing-pay-guide/#nhs-pay-table-agenda-for-change-2020-21

If I were you I'd contact nursing local agencies to ask (they pay higher anyway) so you get a sense but no one here believes £10.60/hour is a reasonable rate of pay for qualified nurse

A band 5 (newly qualified nurse) will be on more than £10 an hour, along with the other benefits.

Nurses are only entitled to pay rises in a set band if their employer is signed up to Agenda for Change- most private employers are not and can pay as they choose.

@Tistheseason17

And private employers will pay nurses a salary that is appropriate and affordable for their organisation.

In this case, that is £10.60 an hour.

Beennag yes I know, which is why I posted that link!!

Know your worth OP. If the manager has lied to you about your pay, that’s just the start of it. Organisations like this have multiple issues and it will be downhill from here. Leave

And I'd walk OP, what an insult.

In the future I would follow up any job offer with an email asking for written confirmation of the hourly rate. I've recently done this with an agency position, felt very cringey doing it, but I ended up with an a hourly rate of slightly more than they advertised.

[quote TreeLeaf4]@Tistheseason17

And private employers will pay nurses a salary that is appropriate and affordable for their organisation.

In this case, that is £10.60 an hour.[/quote]
I can't imagine they will retain their staff if they pay such ridiculously low wages for a qualified nurse.

As a registered Nurse though ,surely you would be able to look for better paid work somewhere else? My friend is an SRN and is paid well by her agency .I would be walking ASAP!

I'm shocked-I make $53/hr in the states working every Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday full time, with four weekends off yearly. I have full medical, dental benefits and a 401 K matching plan!

I can't imagine they will retain their staff if they pay such ridiculously low wages for a qualified nurse.

They definitely won't. And if it's a nursing home, they won't be able to offer 24/7 nursing care without trained nurses.

[quote TreeLeaf4]@Tistheseason17

And private employers will pay nurses a salary that is appropriate and affordable for their organisation.

In this case, that is £10.60 an hour.[/quote]
They won’t because no one will work for them.