The ballot for nurses to accept or decline Manx Care’s latest pay offer has now shut, with results expected early next week.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has been surveying its members since the revised pay offer of a further 2.75% consolidated uplift on the 6% already awarded for 2022/23 was brought to them on October 10.

Its members have protested on a number of occasions this year as part of a long-running dispute over fair pay and safer staffing levels.

The latest offer came in response to a further two back-to-back strikes were planned for this month but were called-off.

Union members were originally told they had until October 23 to submit their votes on the revised offer, however RCN said the ballot officially closed at 12pm yesterday (October 25).

A representative for RCN has admitted the vote could go ‘either way’, with the ballot closing two days later than planned, and results are set to be released early next week, with no specific date given.

Originally RCN had said it was hoping to learn the outcome of the vote by Friday (October 27) at the latest.

The union has insisted that if the offer is declined by its members it will be returning to the picket line to strike for a better deal.

RCN exclusively told Isle of Man Today that the provisional dates for strike action if the offer is declined are Thursday 16 and Friday 17 November.

Alternatively if accepted, the new deal would see pay increased by 8.75% - 2.75% more than the original offer of 6% tabled by Manx Care for the 2022/2023 financial year.

A 4% pay increase put forward by the healthcare provider covering the 2021/2022 financial year remains unchanged.

If majority of members approve the deal, it would mean nurses’ pay will have increased by 12.75% over the last two financial years.

The offer from Manx Care came as a surprise to RCN members, as previously Manx Care had reiterated that it did not have the funding available to offer an enhanced deal with it ‘exhausting its funding pot’.

Results of the strike will be available on iomtoday.co.im next week.