![]() Now there is more progression and greater flexibility in the way staff work.’Īdditionally, NHS trusts in the UK are now more shielded from unforeseen costs generated by unequal pay claims – a real threat under the old Whitley system because of differing rates across the country. ‘Many of the staff had previously been stuck on the top of their pay scale. ‘In the years since AfC there has been an improvement in earnings for the overwhelming majority of staff,’ he said. Mike Jackson, Unison’s senior national officer for health who helped implement AfC, agreed. In particular he highlighted the role of the three-year pay deal that accompanied AfC as helping to drive a series of real-terms pay increases for NHS staff during a period of low inflation. Mr Foster, now chief executive of Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, is proud of introducing the scheme, which he described as a monumental logistical challenge. ![]() ![]() Nursing Times has spoken to some of the original negotiators of the AfC pay deal – from both the unions and the government – about whether they believe it has been a success and has really improved the working lives of staff.Īndrew Foster, NHS director of workforce between 20, oversaw AfC’s transition from a policy proposal to a fully-fledged pay system. The Knowledge and Skills Framework training and development system which accompanied the new pay scales, aimed to identify learning needs as staff progressed along pay scales. The aim was to establish fairness by ensuring every nurse or staff member doing the same work received the same basic pay, wherever they worked in the country – with recruitment and retention premia added in places such as London in recognition of a higher cost of living. For less mainstream jobs, pay was determined by matching a job against a series of competencies outlined in the job evaluation handbook accompanying the system. An initial three-year pay deal, worth 3.3% every year, which accompanied the new system lent weight to its promise to ensure fairer pay and a more productive workforce with improved morale.Īgenda for Change differed from its predecessor in that pay was no longer based on job title, but on work done – with the majority of NHS posts evaluated against national job profiles. National implementation of AfC began in December 2004. It is a fair deal for NHS staff and a good deal for Britain’s NHS.’ After a review by the NHS staff council, the RCN endorsed the system in 2004, followed by Unison, Amicus/CPHVA (now called Unite/CPHVA) and the other major health unions.Īnnouncing the deal, then health secretary Alan Milburn said: ‘Agenda for Change is the most radical modernisation of the NHS pay system since its foundation in 1948. ‘It is a fair deal for NHS staff and a good deal for Britain’s NHS’įinal proposals for the Agenda for Change pay system were published in 2003 and 12 trusts in England and four sites in Scotland tested the new system. The NHS Plan, published in 2000, pledged to improve pay and conditions while negotiations on the new pay system continued between unions and the government. ![]() It would require every non-medical job in the NHS to be re-evaluated and pay to be adjusted accordingly for hundreds of thousands of nurses and other health workers. ![]()
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