Isn't it time to Care for our Carers?

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Nurses United logo

COVID-19 has reminded us that everything depends on our health. It’s in every aspect of our lives, from our homes and schools, to our work places and businesses. It affects how we use our public spaces and public transport, even how we socialise and connect with family and friends.

COVID-19 has also reminded us who really cares for our health, and keeps our country running: it’s our NHS nurses and social care workers, teachers, cleaners, cashiers, and bus drivers. These are the working people that we should be valuing and protecting as a society.

But this Government is failing in its basic duty to look after those who care for us most, by providing unsafe working conditions and paying out poverty wages. During this pandemic, many of us have paid the ultimate price as a result.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The future is what we collectively demand. Nurses United believe that, going forward, our health must be safeguarded as a priority. The outpouring of public support in clapping for carers is heartfelt. Isn’t it time this Government started caring for carers too?

That’s why, Nurses United are calling on this Government to demonstrate that they value nurses as much as we do, by making four changes:


  1. Increase the student nurse bursary

  2. Implement safe staffing levels

  3. Give nurses a 10% pay rise

  4. Address racial discrimination in the NHS


With your support, together we can demand care for our carers, so that they can do their job of keeping us safe.

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To: Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
From: [Your Name]

COVID-19 has reminded us that everything depends on our health. It’s in every aspect of our lives, from our homes and schools, to our work places and businesses. It affects how we use our public spaces and public transport, even how we socialise and connect with family and friends.

COVID-19 has also reminded us who really cares for our health, and keeps our country running: it’s our NHS nurses and social care workers, teachers, cleaners, cashiers, and bus drivers. These are the working people that we should be valuing and protecting as a society.

We the undersigned feel that the Government is failing in its basic duty to look after those who care for us most, by providing unsafe working conditions and paying out poverty wages. During this pandemic, many of us have paid the ultimate price as a result.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The future is what we collectively demand. Nurses United believe that going forward, our health must be safeguarded as a priority. The outpouring of public support in clapping for carers is heartfelt. Isn’t it time this Government started caring for carers too?

That’s why, Nurses United are calling on you as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to demonstrate that you value nurses as much as we do, by making four changes:

1. Increase the student nurse bursary
We should start as we mean to go on. Valuing nurses means supporting them through their training. But this government’s inadequate bursary puts student nurses in thousands of pounds of debt. By introducing a living student bursary of £12,000 a year and removing tuition fees, we can encourage more people to enter the profession to fill the 40,000+ existing vacancies. Keeping the public safe means investing in nurses.

2. Implement safe staffing levels
There is safety in numbers. But this Government's policy often leaves nurses dangerously overstretched on hospital wards and our communities. We know that in order to provide safe working conditions, in most settings, we need at least one nurse for every four patients. By creating a healthier work environment we can also help retain nurses. Keeping the public safe means ensuring safe staffing ratios across the NHS.

3. Give nurses a 10% pay rise
Nurses should be valued and rewarded for their work. But this Government has cut nurses’ pay by 20% over the past 10 years in real terms, making it far more difficult for them to join and remain in the NHS. By increasing nurses’ pay by 10%, you can help to restore our dignity. The people that care for us the most deserve to be cared for by this Government, so they can keep doing their job of looking after the public.

4. Address racial discrimination in the NHS
In a fair and just society, you’d expect us to all be treated the same way. But evidence shows that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) nurses are discriminated against in the NHS. By ensuring that we have trained staff members to support BAME nurses as Cultural Ambassadors across the NHS, we can help to identify and address biases. We must be there for all our nurses, so they can continue to be there for us.

If you were to enact these changes, it might go some way to repaying the sacrifices that Nurses have made. Together, we can demand care for our carers, so that they can do their job of keeping us safe.