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The voice of health service staff
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July 2010 News |
NEXT MONTHHow the financial statementfrom the budget will effect your future |
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All NHS staff will be worst off thanks to the change of Government |
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Wessex Health |
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INDEX |
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Agenda for Change Out of Hours Proposals Agreed At Thursday’s Staff Council the On Call/Out of hours proposals were received and agreed for Staff Side organisations to consult with their members The main discussion centred on the length of the consultation period The CSP and Unite proposed extending the consultation until the Staff Council Executive meeting on 13 October 2010 The Staff Side however voted for the consultation to end by the 16 September 2010 Unite are already committed to ballot all its NHS membership and although this short timescale is not helpful, Unite’s Out of Hours Working Party is meeting to discuss the way forward in the next few days It is also rumoured that the RCN and Unison do not intend to ballot their members The draft papers on the result of the out of hours consultation, draft Principles for harmonised on-call arrangements and recommendations to the Staff Council on the way forward tabled at this Meeting are now no longer confidential and are available on this site
Budget 2010 and the NHS Workforce In the last few weeks there has been considerable anxiety about the future of annual pay increments and the effect on NHS pensions
We have already circulated views from NHS staff, Unite and from NHS Pensions Representatives to our NHS E- Group, but this is now followed up below by a very helpful FAQs from the NHS Employers web site with thanks to the several members of our NHS E-Group for sending the link . Does the public sector pay freeze apply to the NHS?The two-year public sector pay freeze affects staff on Agenda for Change, doctors, dentists, GPs and those on senior salaries
There is, however, a proposed increase for those earning under £21,000 per annum
The pay freeze will take effect from 1 April 2011
What does this mean for incremental annual step increases under Agenda for Change?The Chancellor’s statement does not affect entitlement to increments as part of Agenda for Change for staff who successfully develop their skills and experience What about staff who earn below £21,000 per annum?The Chancellor has said these staff will receive a flat rate increase of at least £250 in each year of the pay freeze
How this will be awarded is not yet clear but we will update organisations as soon as we can
Will NHS Employers still be consulting with trusts on pay and submitting evidence to the pay review bodies?It is currently unclear what the role of the pay review bodies will be
However, we will continue to consult widely with NHS organisations on pay-related issues during the summer and keep them informed as changes are announced
We will be feeding employers’ views into any reviews and consultations on pay where they will be affected
What does this mean for Clinical Excellence Awards?There is already a freeze in place on the cash amounts of Clinical Excellence Awards for 2010/11, which was recommended by the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Pay Review Body earlier this year That freeze will continue for 2011/12 and 2012/13. The Government will consider new awards, in the light of its wider approach to public sector pay NHS Employers will update when further information is available Will the plan to increase the state pension age affect people on NHS pensions?The state pension age is the age at which an individual can draw their state pension The NHS Pension Scheme is completely separate from the state pension arrangements This means that as well as their NHS pension, NHS Pension Scheme members will normally get a separate basic state pension The Government is currently reviewing when it will raise the state pension age to 66. Find out more on the proposed changes How will phasing out the Default Retirement Age affect employers?The Government is reviewing the default retirement age of 65 – the age at which employers can legally insist employees retire from their work – and is set to consult on it shortly
Our consultation with employers on the default retirement age earlier this year revealed that opinion was divided on whether the default retirement age should be phased out
Some employers consider it outdated but others consider it a helpful marker in planning their workforce
NHS Employers will work with NHS organisations and feed in their views to the new consultation
Will the NHS Pension Scheme be included in the pension review?Lord John Hutton will be chairing the Independent Public Services Pensions Commission which will undertake a fundamental structural review of public service pension provision This review will look at the NHS Pension Scheme alongside other public service pension schemes The Commission will produce an interim report in September 2010 considering the case for short-term savings within the comprehensive spending review period Find out more about the pension review. How will this affect the NHS Pension Choice exercise and the current review process?Your NHS Pension Choice is an exercise to give all eligible members of the NHS Pension Scheme a one-off option to transfer all of their membership from the 1995 Section of the scheme into the 2008 Section if they wish We do not expect the commission’s work to impact on the NHS Pension Choice exercise, which is set to be completed in March 2012 Find out more about the NHS Pension Choice exercise. At the same time, the NHS Pension Scheme is undergoing its four-yearly review, any changes from which would impact on the scheme from 2012
We are working closely with the Department of Health to better understand the situation and will update employers as soon as we can
When will we find out more about the Government’s plans?The Government is expected to publish a white paper in July, which will set out substantial changes for the NHS
The Comprehensive Spending Review is scheduled for Wednesday 20 October and this will contain more detail on departmental spending
Keep an eye on our latest news page for details as they emerge
Pathology Privatization
As predicted last month Serco are extending their influence, this time to Pathology in the North West
A Joint Venture is planned with collaboration between the public and private sector
Details of the proposals are attached for your information
Modernising Scientific CareersThe North West Strategic Health Authority is establishing an Oversight Board to further this initiativeFurther details of the Board’s remit, unapproved minutes of its first Meeting and the latest MSC presentation relating to the North West is availableMore Front Line News of the month
There have been many events to report this month, but as in previous months we are unable to publicise in fullHowever our daily new service continues to keep members informed regularlyWant to be kept informed?Want to know more?Join our NHS E-group today |
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Happy retirement soon to be a thing of the past for NHS staff |
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There is a popular belief in the media that money grows on trees in the new NHS |
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The Coalition Government’s Final Solution |
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Next Meeting
Once more it seems it will be a busy year for our members
The effects of the budget will be felt for many years to come and the future of current and future NHS Pensions is unclear
The Branch must also decide at the next Meeting whether or not to support any candidate in the forthcoming Genertal Secretary election
If anyone wishes to discuss this with any of the current Branch Officers please feel free
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Branch Meeting details
Date 26 July 2010 Time 7.30 pm
Venue Telephone conference
Details from the Secretary |
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Unite NHS National Officer Karen Reay leads the campaign from the front |