Less than half of NHS staff have moved to AfC pay
NHS staff should be switched to the new pay system before October |
Less than half of NHS staff in England have been switched to the new pay system introduced under Agenda
for Change, Department of Health figures from July show. The DoH set a deadline of the end of next month for the process to be complete.
It was reported in Nursing Times earlier this month that the NHS Staff
Council had asked the Department of Health for managed extensions to
allow trusts until the end of December to assimilate staff into the new
pay system. However, a spokeswoman for the DoH confirmed this week that
the September deadline still stands.
Although 70 per cent of staff have had their jobs matched to a band under
Agenda for Change, only 48 per cent have switched to the new system.
David Miller, chief pharmacist at City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation
Trust, told The Journal: “We are nearly complete, apart from the
preregistration trainees, but we are an early implementer site — we
are two years ahead. Some of the other sites are only just beginning
to disclose their results.”
It is not clear yet how many pharmacists across the UK have been switched
to the new pay system but in a sample of six trusts in England contacted
by The Journal this week none of the pharmacists had received their banding
assignments.
A Welsh Assembly Government spokesman said that 50 per cent of staff
have been re-evaluated in Wales and some 15 per cent are now receiving
their new pay. “This will broadly be complete by the end of the
year,” said the spokesman.
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman told The Journal that NHS boards are
working towards assimilation of staff onto the new Agenda for Change
pay scales by the end of September. “At this point we do not have
a figure of how many staff will transfer over. It is too early to say
whether or not all boards will achieve this September target. Should
it be required, a framework to deal with any staff not assimilated on
time will be developed in partnership at a UK level, with the aim of
ensuring that staff in the NHS across the UK are assimilated as quickly
as possible.” |
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