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January 2012 News

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NHS Pensions

Wessex Health

INDEX

Of course the NHS Pay

Review Body

is independent

of the

Coalition Government

Branch Meeting details

Date 16 January 2012

Time 7.30 pm

Venue Teleconference

Further details from the Secretary

Next Meeting

2012 will be the year of decisions for all NHS staff

Clearly the Coalition Government is not content with simply freezing pay and reducing pensions

Aided by the NHS Employers, holiday entitlement, the length of the working week and regional pay are all on the horizon

If anyone wishes to discuss any problems with any of the current Branch Officers please feel free or attend the next Branch Meeting

Coalition Government’s final solution

What will be

the next

move?

NHS staff

want to

know

what is

really

going on

After two years of no pay rises

and a year

of a

1% pay rise

NHS staff

must be

entitled

to a

substantial increase?

End of national pay awards

The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has written to the independent NHS Pay Review Body setting out details for local NHS Pay

Chancellor George Osborne has claimed there is a

“clear case”

for changing the national NHS pay deal in a letter setting out eight areas to be considered in a forthcoming review

The review is to consider how to make Agenda for Change more

· “market facing in local areas” according to the letter sent to pay review body chair Jerry Cope yesterday

The review body has been tasked with carrying out the review

Mr Osborne’s letter said it should consider:

· The need to recruit, retain and motivate suitably able and qualified staff across the UK

· The difference in total reward between the NHS workforce and those of similar skills working in the private sector by location – and the impact of those differences on local labour markets

· How private sector employers determine wages for staff in different areas of the country

· The most appropriate areas or zones by which to differentiate pay levels

The affordability of any proposals in light of the fiscal position; these should

· “not lead to any increase in pay-bill in the short or long-term”

· The need to ensure that proposals are consistent with law on equal pay

· Whether and how the new approach could be delivered within national frameworks

· Whether proposals should apply to existing staff, or just to new entrants

Mr Osborne announced the review in his autumn statement last week, when he also announced public sector pay would be capped at 1 per cent a year from 2013-15, following a two year freeze

His letter says:

“…as review bodies have noted in the past, there is substantial evidence that the differential between public and private sector wages varies considerably between local labour markets

This has the potential to hurt private sector businesses that need to compete with higher public sector wages; lead to unfair variations in public sector service quality; and reduce the number of jobs that the public sector can support for any given level of expenditure”

The government believes there is a

“clear case for seeking to correct these problems,”

it says

“detailed remit”

in relation to the NHS workforce will follow the letter, which

“may also raise other pay reform issues,”

it adds

The PRB has been asked to submit initial findings by 17 July 2012, to be fed into the government’s decision concerning the 2013-14 pay round

Join our NHS E-Group for regular updates

Another Branch Unite web site criticised

We has long championed keeping NHS staff informed about industrial matters and has been criticised and even threatened in this process

It will therefore come as no surprise that we support the revelation of secret corridor meetings between NHS Employers and others who were attempting to agree future deals behind the NHS staff’s back

Unite Glasgow Health Branch are to congratulated for revealing these proposals on

· Annual leave - to be determined at local level, with a minimum of 25 days

· Sick pay - basic pay only

· Increments - a variety of alternative proposals but all would make the top three points conditional on ‘excellent performance’

· Other proposals include making increments dependent on ‘satisfactory performance’ and non-consolidated

· Flexible working - core hours 6am to 10pm (currently 8am to 8pm) with the consequential reduction in unsocial hours payments

· Unsocial hours payments for Sundays and public holidays to be the same as weekdays and raising the threshold for overtime payments from 37.5 to 40 hours per week

The Branch have been criticised for making this information available to NHS staff

What do our readers think?

Should this information have been kept secret or been made public?

Send your views to this site

Unite rejects NHS Pension Reforms

On Thursday 5th January 2012 Unite’s NHS National Committee unanimously rejected the Coalition Government’s latest proposals on NHS pensions

Unite have published a synopsis of the reasons for this rejection as well as a copy of the NHS Pensions Heads of Agreement of which there is a further précis on the NHS Employers’ site , with views to members on the Unison and the RCN sites