Background
Despite already increasing the registration fees for nurses and midwives in 2012 from £76 to £100 the NMC have announced that they want to further increase fees by 20% to £120 in 2015.
UNISON is opposed to the increase and is campaigning against it. Over 100,000 people have already signed the online petition
UNISON Lanarkshire Health Branch is calling on all nurse and midwife members to write to the MP and ask for their support in our campaign to oppose the increase.
It’s quite simple. over the next few months UNISON will be out and about in every workplace encouraging nurse members to sign up to our campaign.
We will have packs of standard letters for you and your colleagues to sign, if you are a UNISON member we will post them on to your MP for you.
Alternatively you can use the template letter (cut and paste) below and the following web link to write or email, to your MP direct at the House of Commons.
At this stage we are not targeting MSP's because the issue of NMC Registration and Fees is still reserved to the UK Government.
In addition Branch Secretary Mary Samson is writing to every MP in the Lanarkshire area asking them for their support. Who knows one or two might even agree to meet with UNISON members to hear their views - if they do we will keep members on our email list posted.
Not on our email list? You can make sure you are kept up to date with all of the big issues affecting UNISON members simply email us at
unisonlanhealth@hotmail.co.uk
with your name, address and email and we will amend your records to make sure that you are included in our regular email communications to members.
Before you start you will want to find out who your MP is. You can use your postcode to find the name of your MP here..
<<insert your name>>
<<Address>>
<<Postcode>>
<<Your MP's name >>
House of Commons,
London SW1A 0AA
<<insert date>>
Dear MP
I am seeking your support as a local constituent and one of 670,000 nurses and midwives working in the UK in our fight to scrap further NMC fee increases.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator for nurses and midwives on the UK. It is illegal to work as a nurse or midwife without being on the NMC register. In order to be on the register, all nurses and midwives must pay an annual registration fee. The NMC maintains this register in order to 'protect the public'.
The NMC has again proposed an increase in registrations fees, this latest increase will see fees rise from £100 to £120 per annum, a 20% hike. The last increase was in 2012 following a consultation in which nurse and midwives were overwhelmingly against the rise from £76 to £100, a 32% rise, a total increase of 52% in two years. At this time the NMC was bailed out to the tune of £20million by the Government only two years later they state that without a fee increase the NMC will end the financial year with a £7.3 million deficit. This report was tabled at the January council meeting of the NMC. Over 670,000 nurses and midwives pay the annual fee currently totally £67 million. 77% of registrants fees are spent on 'fitness to practice'.
Health Christina McAnea, UNISON Head of Health has said that
“it beggars belief that the NMC should even consider asking nursing staff to pay such a massive increase in fees. The family budgets of many nurses and midwives are under severe pressure and one more bill to pay can all too easily tip them over the edge, especially as it comes on the back of the recent pay announcement. Public protection is everyone's business and the full financial burden shouldn't fall to registrants alone.”
I write today to ask for your help and support, to ask questions of the NMC and their financial mismanagement.
Kind regards
Contacting your MP is just the start of the campaign, if your MP is in touch with you, let us know what she/he says - send a copy of their letter or email to UNISON at the contact details at the side of this website.
You could even write to your local newspaper or to the NMC direct
