Agenda for Change
by Simon Wright
Monster Healthcare Expert
Agenda for Change, the biggest shake-up in pay and conditions in the history of the NHS, should get off the ground at the end of the year. But how will it work? And what does it mean for nurses?
Agenda for Change is the culmination of five years of tough negotiations between the government and health unions. It is aimed at rationalising a hugely complex pay system with hundreds of separate arrangements.
The final proposals offer clear advantages to both sides – a simplified, modernised system for the government; a fairer structure and potentially big pay increases for staff.
New structure
The new system, covering the whole of the UK and affecting nearly 1.3m staff, attempts to offer clarity, uniformity and fairness for all health jobs. All jobs will be evaluated under one of the biggest job evaluation schemes ever conducted and then given a ‘weighting’ which will determine precisely where they are positioned on the new pay spine. Jobs will be weighted according to:
- knowledge and skills required;
- responsibilities;
- physical, emotional and mental effort involved in the job;
- and, any extra demands imposed by the working environment.
There will be three new pay spines. The first will be for doctors and dentists; the second for nurses, other health professionals and most health care support workers, and the third for all other groups, including administrative, clerical and ancillary workers. The new arrangements will apply to all staff apart from very senior managers.
The nurses’ pay spine will be divided into nine bands with scope for progression within each. Some of this progress will be based on years in the job but at two key stages it will depend on demonstrating the necessary knowledge and skills to progress.
A new body, the NHS Staff Council, will oversee the new system. The Nurses’ Pay Review Body will be extended to cover all staff within the second pay spine. There will be a single pay negotiating forum for all NHS workers not covered by pay review bodies.
