RepsDirect No 400 - 30 September 2005

"We are pleased at the great achievement across the NHS in delivering the new Agenda for Change terms and conditions to staff. The position in England is that 80% of jobs were matched to the new grades at the end of August, with around 60% of staff assimilated. This translates into over 540,000 individual staff being assimilated and paid on their new grades. Everyone involved, including staff, management and trade unions, can be rightfully proud of the hard work they have put in to achieve this level of success, whilst still fully maintaining NHS services. There is no doubt it is very demanding task, one that was created, developed and is being delivered in partnership.

This means that by the end of September we expect the significant majority of staff will have moved from their old terms and conditions onto the new, and we can look forward over the next few months to mainstreaming Agenda for Change and allowing it to deliver continued benefits for both staff and patients. It is important that this good work continues and in particular, implementation of the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework, as this element is a key driver of development for staff and improved services for patients.

We know that everyone is continuing to work positively towards achieving the end of September timetable, which remains the target for completion. We expect to see accelerated progress in September in all organisations where completion has not already been achieved.

However, there may be a minority of organisations that will not be able to finish the task by the end of September. In these cases, the parties locally will be required to propose tight timetables to achieve completion of assimilation. Such plans will need to be agreed with the relevant external authority within a rigorous national framework. These plans will be performance managed by the Department of Health. NHS Employers and trade unions will provide further support to help organisations achieve completion."