Dear Member
Re: Consultative ballot on employers’ sick pay proposals
Ambulance staff receive unsocial hours payments under Annex E of the NHS terms and conditions handbook. Under this system a percentage supplement is made to pay, reflecting the working pattern and proportion of unsocial hours. This differs from the “retrospective” system that applies to other NHS staff where an agreed “per hour” enhancement to plain time hourly rates is applied.
In February, the NHS Staff Council agreed a package of England-only changes to Agenda for Change which included changes to the calculation of pay during sickness absence for staff who receive unsocial hours payments under the retrospective system.
The employers believe that these changes automatically apply to ambulance staff. UNISON does not agree.
Employers have made a formal proposal to us about the deduction of unsocial hours from your sick pay. We do not accept that the changes made to the Handbook have automatic implications for unsocial hours payments made under Annex E, but have agreed to consult.
If we accept the proposals your sickness payments could be reduced. If we do not accept this proposal, employers could impose deductions to payments during sick pay leading to local challenges or disputes. This is why we need to know your views before we decide how to respond.
A detailed briefing has been produced by the NHS Staff Council together with a set of FAQs. These are available from your branch, and there is information on the UNISON website (unison.org.uk).
Please return via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. your response stating if you accept or reject question 1 also a YES or NO to question 2, if using private email address please state your name. Alternatively please complete the attached ballot paper and return by post to UNISON office, YAS HQ, Brindley way, Wakefield, WF2 OXQ by 12.00 noon on 23 August 2013.
Your view is important – Please have your say in this consultation.
Proposed changes to sick pay – consultative
ballot paper
UNISON REGION: YORKSHIRE AND HUMBERSIDE
UNISON BRANCH: YORKSHIRE AMBULANCE BRANCH
- Do you ACCEPT or REJECT The NHS Employers final proposals to deduct USH during sickness absence?
Please indicate your answer below
ACCEPT
REJECT
- In the event that UNISON members reject the proposals and your employer imposes these changes to deduct unsocial hours payments during sick leave would you be willing to take industrial action if needed?
Please indicate your answer below
YES
NO
Please return via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. your response stating if you accept or reject question 1 also a YES or NO to question 2, if using private email address please state your name. Alternatively please complete the attached ballot paper and return by post to UNISON office, YAS HQ, Brindley way, Wakefield, WF2 OXQ by 12.00 noon on 23 August 2013.
Changes have been proposed to the way pay is calculated if you are off sick. Ambulance staff receive payments for unsocial hours under Annex E of the Agenda for Change (AfC) agreement.
Employers think the recent changes to AfC sickness payments automatically change Annex E. UNISON does
not. UNISON is asking for your view on proposals to reduce Annex E payments during sickness.
This means that if ambulance staff are sick during a shift that includes unsocial hours they would lose
their unsocial hours uplift for those hours. UNISON wants to hear your views on changes to Annex E.
Vote now in the UNISON consultative ballot.
Contact your UNISON rep for further details:
Changes have been proposed to the way pay is calculated if you are off sick. Ambulance staff receive payments for unsocial hours under Annex E of the Agenda for Change (AfC) agreement. Employers think the recent changes to AfC sickness payments automatically change Annex E. UNISON does not. UNISON is asking for your view on proposals to reduce Annex E payments during sickness. This means that if ambulance staff are sick during a shift that includes unsocial hours they would lose their unsocial hours uplift for those hours. This will also affect their pension. UNISON wants to hear your views on changes to Annex E if this effects you.
UNISON’s view It is UNISON’s view, and that of the other NHS unions, GMB and Unite, that the Annex E arrangements form the basis of a regular supplement, rather than the hour by hour enhancement described in the retrospective scheme. This means that if the employers wanted changes this would have needed specific negotiations and agreement before it was included in the recent agreement to change sick pay for
other NHS staff. We do not accept that the changes made to the Handbook have automatic implications for unsocial hours payments made under Annex E. The employer’s view The employers maintain that the principle of removing unsocial hours for periods of sickness absence should apply to staff paid under Annex E and have now proposed a methodology for how this deduction could be made. Your UNISON representatives do not agree that this deduction can happen automatically but have agreed to consult
members on the proposal. This has led to the employer’s delaying the implementation date to give us time to consult you about what you think. All three unions in the ambulance service (UNISON, GMB and Unite) have agreed to jointly consult members on this proposal. We want to see an England-wide approach to this issue rather than allowing local flexibilities. But if we do not agree to this proposal, employers could impose
deductions to payments during sick pay. Background In February, the NHS Staff Council agreed a package of England-only changes to Agenda for Change which included changes to the calculation of pay during sickness absence. These included the following change to sick pay: “pay during sickness absence will
be paid at basic salary level....It will not include any other allowances or payments linked to working patterns
or additional work commitments, eg unsocial hours payments.” It was also made clear that no changes
would be made to current arrangements for the lowest paid staff (on pay spine points 1 to 8) or those with work related injuries. The NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook was updated to reflect these
changes. The employers believe that the change to the national agreement must also apply to the Annex E arrangements. They argue that the changes made to Section 2 and 14 of the Handbook automatically affect
unsocial hours payments made under Annex E and that if Annex E had been excluded there would have been an explicit reference along with the other categories of exemptions. Annex E provides for a “prospective”
system of unsocial hours payments, which are mainly used in the ambulance sector in England. Under this system a percentage supplement is made to pay, reflecting the working pattern and proportion of unsocial hours covered. This differs from the “retrospective” system that applies to most NHS set out in Section 2 of the Handbook,which applies an agreed
JM(SC) 17/2013
Annex E: discussions on implications of Staff Council agreement on changes to Agenda for Change (
1. The Pay Circular (AforC) 2/2013, set out the detail of the new NHS Staff Council agreement which included changes to the calculation of pay during sickness absence, for those working in the English NHS. These new arrangements came into effect from 31 March 2013. This included an agreed holding statement.
"There is still further work to do to clarify what the sections of the Agreement relating to unsocial hours means for employers who operate the prospective arrangements for payment of unsocial hours as set out in Annex E. This will be dealt with as a matter of urgency."
2. This paper reports on the progress and conclusions reached in the subsequent national discussions and recommends that the NHS Staff Council agree to consult on the proposal outlined in this paper.
Background
3. In November 2012 the NHS Staff Council agreed a package of England-only changes which would be put out for consultation. The proposals included the following change to sick pay:
"pay during sickness absence will be paid at basic salary level....It will not include any other allowances or payments linked to working patterns or additional work commitments, e.g. unsocial hours payments."
This proposal was explicit that no changes would be made to current arrangements for the lowest paid staff (on pay spine points 1 to 8) or those with work related injuries.
4. Annex E provides for a prospective system of unsocial hours payments, which are mainly used in the ambulance sector, in
5. There have been subsequent national discussions about the implications of the agreement to amend the sick pay arrangements for Agenda for Change staff in
6. Throughout those discussions employer representatives have made clear their position that - on grounds of equity and fairness - the principle of the change to the national agreement must apply to the Annex E arrangements. They argue that the changes made to Section 2 and 14 of the Handbook automatically affect unsocial hours payments made under Annex E and that for Annex E to have been excluded from the provisions would have required explicit reference along with other categories of staff exempted (those on spine points 1-8 and those absent through work-related injury).
7. Staff Side representatives have been clear that their position is that Annex E arrangements form the basis of a regular supplement, rather than the hour by hour enhancement described in the retrospective scheme, and they believe that this should have required specific provision if it were to have been included in the NHS Staff Council agreement on sick pay. They do not accept that the changes made to the Handbook in version 28 have automatic implication for unsocial hours payments made under Annex E. Given that any application of such a change to Annex E would require significant further work, the staff side argue that this would have required clear identification in the agreement reached in February.
8. Due to the complex nature of these positions - and in an attempt to avoid a situation where these arguments are tested via imposition and challenge - a series of non-prejudicial discussions have taken place on the different ways in which the England-only changes to Agenda for Change could be applied to Annex E. In particular, the discussions have covered the need for a consistent and fair arrangement, in line with the fundamental ethos that all AforC agreements should affect all NHS staff. The approach to implementation of Staff Council agreements should be proportionate and methodical. This has led to the formal proposal outlined below being put forward by employers for consultation and consideration as an acceptable way forward.
9. At a meeting on 14 June the employer representatives believed that they responded to all the concerns raised. They made a national proposal based on a consensus among ambulance employers as to how they plan to implement the new sickness pay provisions for staff covered by Annex E.
10. The ambulance employers said that they had proposed a fair and consistent approach to the implementation of payments to staff on Annex E during periods of sickness absence, which was consistent with the principles in the national agreement.
11. Employers said that their preference was to implement a joint agreement, underpinned by the requisite changes to the Handbook, and they were planning for an implementation date of 1July 2013. It was noted that the effective date for the changes to AforC, for all other NHS staff, was 31 March 2013.
12. The methodology for deducting USH allowances would be based on an hourly rate of pay - as presented in the table attached. The table shows the hourly rate of unsocial hours payment for each pay point, in each AforC pay band.
13 Staff who are absent due to sickness on hours that fall within the USH period, would only have the corresponding USH allowance for each hour lost deducted from their pay in the following month. No deduction of USH allowance would be made for hours lost due to sickness absence which fall outside of the USH period.
14. The attached document contains the table of hourly Annex E unsocial hours rates, along with some agreed FAQs to explain how the deductions would be applied.
15. The Staff Side has agreed to consult members on the proposed methodology and employers have accepted a revised implementation date of 1 September 2013, to enable this process to be undertaken.
Recommendation:
The NHS Staff Council is asked to note the outcome of these discussions and agree these proposals for formal consultation.
