RepsDirect No 171 - 18 March 2003

• Agenda For Change
• Working Time Regulations
• Maternity Leave
• AHP Sharing Event

Following publication of the documentation for the proposed agreement on Agenda for Change and the associated the three year pay deal, both the management and staff sides have been holding meetings with colleagues in the NHS. As we all expected, these meetings have thrown up a number of questions about the operation of the proposed new system. Some of these can be dealt with fairly readily, but others lead naturally into the question of what changes could be made during the early implementation period if there are shortcomings in the operation of the new system.

As you are aware, the proposals include a partnership agreement under which the UK health departments and employers will work with staff organisations to deliver a new NHS pay system that supports service modernisation and meets the reasonable aspirations of staff. The partnership agreement sets out a number of success criteria for the early implementation phase covering both benefits and risks.  It empowers the new NHS Staff Council to address any problems that arise in meeting these criteria, either through new guidance on interpretation or implementation of  the system, or if necessary through agreed variations to particular systems or rules.

A good example is the new system for rewarding staff who work outside normal hours. Negotiations on the definitions and levels of payment were conducted in good faith and were successfully concluded on the basis of the available information about the working patterns of staff. They took into account for example staff side colleagues' desire for a harmonised system and management side's wish to make it easier to extend services for patients into the evenings and weekends. We recognised during the talks that this would have consequences - some staff would require pay protection, others would have their payments enhanced.

Obviously we would want to look very carefully of all aspects of the new pay system and how they are working in practice during the early implementation stage. The partnership success criteria include both greater innovation in the deployment of staff and implementation with only a small minority of staff requiring pay protection. These criteria mean that just as it would be legitimate for management to raise concerns in the Staff Council if there were no innovative deployment of staff, so it would be legitimate for staff side colleagues to raise concerns if more staff than expected required pay protection.

With areas of the system like this which are very new, it is impossible at this stage to anticipate what problems there might be, or how widespread or significant such problems would be.  We suspect that some of the concerns we have heard expressed may be based on partial misunderstanding of the proposals.  Some staff have, for example, compared unsocial hours earnings under the new system with current earnings for months in which they work significant  weekend shifts, not appreciating that the new system is averaging payments over all months - including for example those where staff  are on leave. But if we did find there are significantly more staff than estimated currently working weekends, leading to higher numbers than expected requiring pay protection, that would be a legitimate issue to be addressed. Indeed, if there were difficulty staffing the relevant services, we would expect both management and staff side to have a mutual interest in dealing with the problem.

Another example is around job profiles. While we must be honest in publishing profiles which reflect the jobs many people are currently doing, even where that would result in a stand still in pay, there is no problem in principle in defining higher level jobs into which the staff concerned could develop, in line with the aim that the system should encourage staff to take on new roles and reward them for doing so.  Work is already underway in a number of areas to have such profiles ready for the start of early implementation. In other cases (especially where work is needed locally to identify such roles), the work will need to take place during the early implementer phase.

These examples are not exhaustive.  There are others on which progress is already being made. There are areas such as the balance of incentives between on call and shift working  which we know will need careful attention in the early implementer sites. And there are still others which we have already identified as needing to be discussed in the Staff Council, such as the case for creation of a ninth pay band for the small number of professional staff with job weights above 720 for whom it may not be appropriate to apply the same arrangements as are envisaged for Chief Executives and Directors.

The negotiations were successfully concluded on this basis and clearly we now need to make progress towards early implementation. We   are ready to work constructively with you to ensure that the new system both supports service modernisation and meets the reasonable aspirations of staff. I very much hope that in that spirit those staff organisations which have not yet decided to make a firm recommendation to their members will soon do so, and that we can move forward together once the consultation period is over.

Yours sincerely
Ben Dyson
Management Side Chair
Central Negotiating Group

The most frequently asked question concerns being on call at home and what constitutes working time.

By agreement the NHS acknowledges that being in the workplace, albeit able to sleep, constitutes working time for the full period. Being in residence with only infrequent interruptions need  not, (defined in existing agreements on working time in the Terms & Conditions Handbook).

If you are at home and able to pursue normal activities the working time starts when the phone rings and finishes when you put the phone down or return home, depending on what activity has taken place. The Guidance to the Working Time Regulations clearly states that all periods of on call where 'normal activities' cannot be pursued are working time.

A case at the European Court of Justice (Simap) confirmed that a doctor sleeping on the premises was on working time even while asleep. It was a reported part of the case that whilst being on call was not in itself working time, then neither was it to be considered a period of rest.

This has important implications for the design of on call rotas. All workers shall have a minimum period of 11 consecutive hours break, this cannot be breached even by collective agreement. The present agreement in the NHS fails to take account of the ECJ case reached after the Whitely agreement on Working Time.

The WTD is designed to protect workers Health & Safety, also to protect others from the actions of someone who is fatigued and not able to respond as well as they otherwise would. Further, breaking the WTR could lead to charges of professional misconduct.

With more staff becoming registered it is even more important for staff to observe the WTR. We would urge you all to consider the most effective way of implementing the WTR.

Agenda for Change put the claim on the back burner and in the meantime the Government introduced notice of new and greatly improved rights.

To speed negotiations along amicus recently met with the Minister of State for Health, John Hutton, to discuss the GWC Staff Side's outstanding claims in relation to maternity, paternity, adoptive and parental leave, and agreed a process.

John Hutton was very receptive and appreciated the opportunity to talk about these important issues. The meeting helped clarify that the claims were always intended to be considered alongside Agenda for Change but were on hold by mutual agreement in order that more complex issues of harmonisation could be progressed first.

John Hutton accepted that the claims must be properly considered with a view to meaningful discussions starting at the earliest opportunity."

The meeting was attended Margaret Wall - National Policy Secretary, Gail Cartmail - National Secretary Equalities and Barrie Brown - amicus Official on CNG

We are therefore still negotiating the claim. Unfortunately some NHS employers are wrongly telling staff that from 06 April 2003 only the statutory minimum will apply. This is not the case and below is the correct position as explained by the DoH.

HR Direcetors Bulletin Note

New statutory arrangements for maternity leave

In the 19th February 2003 edition of the HR Directors' Bulletin reference was made to revised statutory maternity leave and pay arrangements which come into effect on 6 April 2003.

Employers are asked to note that discussions are taking place nationally regarding changes to the NHS contractual maternity leave scheme set out in Section 6 of the General Whitley Council Handbook.

In the interim, pregnant employees staff who are eligible under Section 6 of the GWC Handbook and who qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) should be advised of the increased statutory entitlements effective from 6 April 2003.  In particular this will mean that:- 

·       in addition to the current GWC Section 6 paid leave entitlement (in summary, 8 weeks at full pay, and 10 weeks at half pay plus SMP), employees who qualify for SMP whose babies are due on or after 6 April 2003 will be entitled to a further 8 weeks statutory maternity pay (at £100 per week, or 90% of earnings if less).

·       The increase in the SMP flat rate payment from £75 per week to £100pw with effect from 6 April 2003 will result in higher payments for many staff in the 10 weeks at half pay plus SMP period referred to above (ie in weeks 9 to 18)

 
Full details of the changes to the statutory provisions can be found at the Department of Trade and Industry website http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/individual.htm.

To share learning and experience of developing and implementing New Ways of Working for Allied Health Professionals

KEY NOTE SPEAKERS:

Judy Hargadon, Director of New Ways of Working, Dept of Health
Gill Dolan, Director of Modernisation, Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority

WORKSHOPS TO INCLUDE:
Occupational Therapy Services
Education Health Workers
Stroke Services
Roles and titles
Changing Workforce Programme Toolkit
Orthotics Technicians
Cadet Schemes
Audiology Assistant Practitioner
Prescribing
Integrated Foot Health
Diabetic Care Technicians
Nutrition Support
Assistant Practitioners
Primary Care
Orthopaedic Triage
Education
Rehab Assistants

To register for the Conference and to submit posters, please complete and return the attached form

Registration Form

Let's Share...New Ways of Working for
Allied Health Professionals
Friday 11th April, Reebok Stadium

Name:  

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If yes, please provide title or brief summary of poster content

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Dietary Requirements:

Please complete and return this form to: Beverley Gibson
Cumbria and Lancashire Workforce Development Confederation
3 Caxton Road, Fulwood,Preston, PR2 9ZZ
Beverley.Gibson@clwdc.nhs.uk
Tel: 01772 221426/7
Fax: 01772 221433
No later than:  FRIDAY 21st MARCH

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