Scottish Government

Pay Modernisation Newsletter Number 3

Issued by SPRIG
March 2003

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NHSScotland PAY

AGENDA FOR CHANGE

The Scottish Pay Reference and Implementation Group's (SPRIG) second newsletter in April gave information on the progress of Agenda for Change and other pay modernisation topics including the new Consultant Contract and GMS Contract. This third newsletter:

• Updates you further on UK-wide pay negotiations

• Discusses proposals for consultation

• Outlines plans for implementation

• Advises you of our new Pay Modernisation Website.

Update on Negotiations

Representatives of the 4 UK Health Departments, NHS Management representatives and staff organisations concluded negotiations on a package of proposals for a new pay system for the NHS in November 2002. This new pay system will apply to all staff who are directly employed NHS staff, apart from those covered by the Doctors' and Dentists' Pay Review Body and some highly graded senior managers. Staff currently within the NHS but on local contracts will have a choice of whether or not to move onto the new system. The agreed proposals will now go forward for wider consideration and the key components of these proposals are:

• Pay structure and job evaluation

• Career and pay progression and the knowledge and skills framework

• Working outside normal working hours

• Hours, overtime and annual leave

• Recruitment and retention premia

• Assimilation and Protection

• National Structures.

Pay Structure and Job Evaluation _

The new NHS pay system will have three pay spines

1. Staff within the remit of the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body

2. Staff within the extended remit of the Pay Review Body for nurses and other health professionals

3. Other directly employed NHS staff, with the exception of some highly-graded senior managers.

We are dealing with pay spines 2 and 3 in this newsletter.

Under the new system, basic pay will be determined on the basis of job weight which will be assessed using a new NHS job evaluation scheme. The new pay system will introduce eight common pay bands in each of the two pay spines and jobs will be placed into bands according to the job evaluation score. In order to support the transition to the new system evaluations of common NHS posts are being finalised and where a job fits with the nationally evaluated job profile, it will be placed directly in the appropriate pay band. Where there is no clear 'fit' for NHSScotland (NHSS) posts, local evaluations will be undertaken.

A table of the pay bands is given below:

Each pay band will have a number of points and staff who are below the maximum of their pay band will have a normal expectation of progressing to the next point on an annual basis provided their performance is satisfactory and that they demonstrate the agreed knowledge and skills appropriate to the pay band.

Staff joining band 5 as new entrants will have accelerated progression through the first two points in six-monthly steps, providing those responsible for the relevant professional standards in the organisation are satisfied with their standard of practice.

Career and Pay Progression and the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF)

Staff will be assessed on the knowledge and skills that they are applying in their job at two points in each pay band known as "gateways". Pay progression at these gateways will be linked to the demonstration of applied knowledge and skills. The first gateway in each pay band will be after one year in post and the second gateway will vary between pay bands.

To support personal development and career progression, there will be a new knowledge and skills framework, linked to annual development reviews and personal development plans. The aim is that staff should:

• Have clear and consistent development objectives

• Be helped to develop in such a way that they can apply the knowledge and skills appropriate to their level of responsibility

• Be helped to identify and develop knowledge and skills that will support their career progression.

Working Outside Normal Hours

There will be pay supplements for all working patterns that involve significant levels of work that take place at the following times:

Staff in pay bands 1-7 _ any time worked before 7.00am or after 7.00pm Monday to Friday and any time worked on Saturdays, Sundays or bank/ public holidays.

Staff in pay band 8 _ any time worked before 7.00am or after 10.00pm Monday to Friday, any time worked before 9.00am or after 1.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and any time worked on bank/public holidays.

Supplements will be calculated on the basis of the average amount of work that staff are expected to undertake over a defined period and will be translated into a fixed percentage of basic salary.

Staff who have to be available to provide on-call cover outside normal working hours will receive a fixed pay supplement, based on the number of defined periods when they are on-call.

Staff who are called into work during an on-call period will receive payment for the actual work done.

Hours of Work, Overtime and Annual Leave All full-time staff will have a common working week of 37.5 hours, excluding meal breaks, to be introduced on a phased basis depending on current full-time hours of work (see table under 'Assimilation and Protection').

Overtime payments will be payable for staff in bands 1-7 only and this will be paid at a single rate of time and a half with the exception of bank/public holidays which will be paid at double time. Annual leave entitlements will be harmonised for all staff. The new entitlements are 27 days on appointment rising to 29 after five years and 33 after ten years' service. This new allowance includes two days which were previously recognised as bank/public holidays. In addition to the above leave allowances, there will be 8 bank/public holidays.

Recruitment and Retention Premia _ will be payable where external labour market pressures exist and allows for an additional payment to be made based on a percentage of basic pay but will not exceed 30%. Long-term recruitment and retention premia will be pensionable. Short-term premia will not be pensionable and will be strictly time-limited.

Assimilation and Protection

Staff will be assimilated to the new pay band depending on the agreed grade for their post. For purposes of assimilating staff to the appropriate pay band and for protection purposes, should this apply, basic pay immediately before assimilation (including any leads and allowances that are to be consolidated into the new basic pay), will be taken into account.

There will be phased protection arrangements for full-time staff whose current standard hours are below 37.5 and for part-time staff on an equivalent pro rata basis.

There will be a five year protection for staff who currently receive more annual leave than the new system is allocating.

Transitional arrangements will ensure appropriate protection for those staff moving from special local arrangements for on-call and stand by.

Pay protection will apply for a total of six years from the date of assimilation. The first year
will include the annual salary uplift and the following five years will be on a mark-time basis.

National Structures

New national structures have been proposed as follows:

The NHS Staff Council _ will oversee the operation of the new pay system and have responsibility for NHS-wide terms and conditions of service. This will replace the relevant functions of the General Whitley Council and the separate functional Whitley Councils.

Single Pay Negotiating Council for NHS Staff who are not covered by one of the two NHS Review Bodies (with the exception of some highly graded senior managers). This Council will replace the relevant functions of the Whitley Councils covering the non-Review Body staff.

Review Body for Nurses, Midwives, Health Visitors and the former Professions Allied to Medicine (NPRB). This Council will be expanded to include a wider number of qualified health professionals and their support staff.

Further Information and Consultation

Further details of the new pay system can be found at www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/paymodernisation

Additional documents are also being finalised which will provide full details of all terms and conditions of service being proposed under the new system together with further information on the Knowledge and Skills Framework. These will be published on the above website over the next few weeks.

In order to raise awareness, SPRIG will be undertaking a series of joint roadshows around Scotland with presentations being given on the new system. Staff will be given an opportunity to ask questions at these sessions.

In addition, trades unions will be consulting with their members and will be holding
sessions locally over the next two to three months to allow further discussion with some organisations balloting their members at the
end of the consultation phase.

Implementation

Subject to a satisfactory outcome of the consultation, some pilot sites have been selected in England where the new system will be implemented in June 2003. SPRIG will have the opportunity to visit these sites and assess issues around implementation which may need to be addressed for NHSS. The planned date for national roll out of the new system, including Scotland, is October 2004.

This will allow us to prepare NHSS for implementation by training appropriate staff in the new terms and conditions, the new knowledge and skills framework and the new job evaluation system.

Discussions are taking place now with the Service and Staff Representative partners on the necessary support to underpin implementation.

Consultant Contract

Most of you will be aware that a majority of consultants in Scotland voted to accept the new consultant contract. Development work on a new set of terms and conditions of service for consultants is now underway between Scottish Executive Health Department and the BMA Scotland. Subject to the satisfactory outcome of this work the Scottish Executive, BMA Scotland and NHSS will go forward with implementation of the new contract across Scotland.

GMS Contract

Negotiations on the new GP contract are being taken forward on a UK basis by the NHS Confederation, representing the four UK Health Departments and the UK General Practitioners Committee (GPC). On 17 April 2002, the NHS Confederation and the UK GPC agreed the framework for the new UK-wide General Medical Services (GMS) contract. The 4 UK Health Ministers agreed its principles.

The framework is based on four key principles:

• Practice-based contract _ to focus on the practice team rather than the individual GP;

• Workload management _ to reassure GPs
  that the demands made on practices are reasonable;

• Focus on quality and outcomes _ to improve the quality of care and access to it;

• High-trust monitoring _ to minimise bureaucracy.

The negotiating timetable for a new GMS contract has been extended with a new deadline fixed of 21 February 2003, after which the General Practitioners Committee will be holding to UK-wide ballot of their members, due to be completed in early April.

Pay Modernisation Website

Further information on all of the above can be found on

www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/paymodernisation

This new site contains information on the various strands of pay modernisation. It will be updated on a regular basis as and when progress is made.

YOUR VIEWS

We welcome your feedback on this newsletter and any aspects of NHS pay reform.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to or e-mail Janis Millar,
Scottish Executive Health Department, Directorate of Human Resources,
GF Rear, St Andrew's House, Edinburgh EH1 1DG
(tel 0131-244 2442).
E-mail:janis.millar@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

SPRIG Members: Contact Details

Jim Devine
UNISON
Tel: 0141-332 0006
E-mail: j.devine@unison.co.uk

Eddie Egan
STUC representative
Tel: 01506 419666
E-mail: eddie.egan@wlt.scot.nhs.uk

Janine Emerson
CSA
Tel: 0131-551 8078
E-mail: janine.emerson@hq.csa.scot.nhs.uk

David Esplin
BMA
Tel: 0131-247 3000
E-mail: desplin@bma.org.uk

Michael Fuller
AMICUS/MSF
Tel: 0141-229 6100
E-mail: Karen.Slater@amicus-m.org

Lynne Khindria
West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust
Tel: 01506 422837
E-mail: lynne.khindria@wlt.scot.nhs.uk

Alex Killick
Tayside Primary Care NHS Trust
Tel: 01382 527816
E-mail: alex.killick@tpct.scot.nhs.uk

Gillian Lenaghan
RCM
Tel: 0131-225 1633
E-mail: gillian.lenaghan@rcmscotb.org.uk

Patricia McNally
Chartered Society of Physiotherapists
Tel: 0131 226 1441
E-mail: mcnallyp@csp.org.uk

Peter O'Hagan
Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Primary Care NHS Trust
Tel: 01505 384014
E-mail: peter.o'hagan@renver-pct.scot.nhs.uk

David Renshaw
Argyll and Clyde Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Tel: 0141-580 4837
E-mail: david.renshaw@rah.scot.nhs.uk

Shirley Rogers
Scottish Ambulance Service
Tel: 0131-446 7017
E-mail: srogers@scotamb.co.uk

Susan Russell, GMB
Tel: 0141-332 8641
E-mail: susan.russell@gmb.org.uk

Melanie Stewart
Tayside Health Board
Tel: 01382 424474
E-mail: melanie.stewart@thb.scot.nhs.uk

Elizabeth Stow
Society of Radiographers
Tel: 01505 382039
E-mail: elizabeths@sor.org

Gordon Walker
Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Tel: 01236 438137
E-mail: gordon.walker@laht.scot.nhs.uk

Rona Webster
Fife Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Tel: 01592 648136
E-mail: rona.webster@faht.scot.nhs.uk

Gordon Wenham, RCN
Tel: 01224 571847
E-mail: gordon.wenham@rcn.org.uk

Scottish Executive Health Department:
Stuart Robinson
Tel: 0131-244 2474
E-mail: stuart.robinson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Janis Millar
Tel: 0131-244 2442
E-mail: janis.millar@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Brenda Burnett
Tel: 0131-244 2473
E-mail: brenda.burnett@scotland.gsi.gov.uk