1. NHS pay - the current position. The current position by Whitley Functional Council is as follows on the current pay round.
Chaplains. Meeting with management sought. No date agreed. No payment yet made on 1999 pay round. MSF represents almost all staff but holds minority of Council seats.
Speech and Language Therapists. 2000 draft Advance Letter sent to staff side prior to a meeting taking place. No date set. 1999 pay round settled and all staff paid. MSF represents almost all staff.
Pharmaceutical Staffs. 1999 pay round settled and all staff paid. MSF represents almost all staff on Council. Meeting sought to discuss 2000 pay claim. No date agreed but draft Advance Letter issued by management.
Clinical Scientists. 1999 pay round settled and all staff paid. MSF represents half of staff. Meeting sought to present claim but no date set. Draft Advance Letter sent to staff side ahead of claim being submitted.
Clinical psychologists and related groups. No settlement on 1999 claim despite MSF reluctance acceptance of offer. Meeting sought and claim submitted but no date set. Draft Advance Letter sent to staff side prior to claim being submitted.
PTB - scientific and technical staffs. 1999 pay round not settled. At meeting on 30.3.00 MSF shared draft pay claim with rest of staff side. Draft Advance Letter presented prior to claim. Meeting adjourned for discussions with management and staff side officers on terms of reference of a working party to look at recruitment and retention issues along lines of successful cytology working party but for next year. The working party on offer at present only covers pathology staff and MSF regards this as not acceptable. MSF has now written seeking reconvening of full Council.
Ancillary staff, ambulance staffs and administrative and clerical staffs Councils have accepted the three year offer without dissent.
You should note that the draft Advance Letters are all identical and seek to commit MSF to the three year offer. The offers exclude:
- any scope for comparability with the much larger pay awards made to PRB staff even where there are blatant recruitment and retention problems
- any increase in on-call despite the increase in on-call for PRB staff
- any restructuring of the pay spines to address specific concerns
- any discussion of longstanding grievances this year even where it is in the best interests of the NHS that they be discussed
Members will have noted that in this morning's media that the average increases in pay for the private sector in February reached 5.1%.
MSF wishes to settle this pay round as soon as possible. However we have a very clear mandate from members on the unsatisfactory nature of the three year offer. This is especially so in the light of the refusal of management to trigger the clause in the three year offer which states that management recognise that the trade unions may wish to return to the negotiating table if PRB staff get substantially more than 3.3%.
Since 70,000 PRB staff have got more than 7% MSF has sought to return to the negotiating table. We are currently not being allowed to.
MSF was not responsible for the delay in settling the 1999 pay round and indeed a number of MSF groups settled last autumn. What we are not prepared to do is to recommend an offer that falls far short of members expectations without even the opportunity to seriously discuss a pay claim.
Backdating of pay. Contrary to any rumours being circulated, there is no truth in any suggestion that management have stated that any part of the 1999 offer to PTB staff will be withdrawn because the pay round has not been settled.
Payment on account. Management across the UK have been strongly encouraged to make 3% payments on account for the 1999 pay round. This is still the case. We have had reports of staff receiving payments on account for the 2000 pay round. Acceptance of such payments on account does not imply acceptance of the Advance Letter.
2. Agenda for Change negotiations - job evaluation scheme factor design. The negotiations over a new Job Evaluation scheme for NHS have progressed to the point where a draft factor design is being tested in some 17 sites - the final couple have yet to b finalised. All MSF representatives in those sites have detailed information, and a number attended a training day organised by MSF. These employers will not necessarily be involved in the first wave of implementation of any new Job Evaluation scheme. As soon as a final list of names is agreed it will be circulated in a FAX.
3. Equality Framework. A new equality framework for the NHS has been published. MSF will be circulating key points from the summary with advice for negotiators later in the year. The full document "The Vital Connection: An Equalities Framework for the NHS "is available free from www.doh.gov.uk.nhs.
4. ODP's - who may practice. New guidance from the NHS Executive has been sent to Trusts. A copy is available from your local management.
5. Workforce planning. A major new report from the NHS Executive on workforce planning called "A Health Service for all the talents: Developing the NHS workforce" has been published as a consultation document. MSF will be formally responding. A copy is available from http://www.doh.gov.uk/wfprconsult.