UNIONS representing around a million health appear to have given a nod and a wink to a massive restructuring of pay scales workers- covering all grades except doctors, dentists and the most senior managers- which had been under discussion for over three years. The package was announced to the press as a "10% pay increase' in return for modemisation. But in practice the increases are equivalent to 3.25% per year over te next three vears - little more than the rises that had been secured by unions over the last few years. At first sight it does not seem that there is enough new money on the bers - or resolve the NHS's chronic recruitment problems. A Parliamentary Labour Party brief claims that the deal is worth an average 12.5% on basic pay": but at least one London Trust has estimated that the cost of the scheme will be no more than 5-6% on the basic pay bill.
For the biggest health union UNISON, whose officers had been sceptical of the outcome of the talks and had discussed building a campaign for a rejection of the package in a ballot vote of members, the apparent acceptance of the deal represents something of a U-turn.
The union's right wing-led Health Group Executive were at least bright enough to recognise that they should not be seen to be signing a deal too easily in the midst of the firefighters' suke - outa ciear nint ras been given that the deal will get the union leaders
UNISON is committed to holding a special health group conference before Honica also STolease
The plan involves simplifying the bafflingly complex NS pay structure with one based on eight main bands, each with incremental points.
One of the biggest-ever job-evaluation exercises then aims to slot all of the various NHS jobs into the appropriate banding. To progress from one band to another will require staff to pass a competency test. It is clear that for some staff at the very bottom of the NHS pay scale -support staff such as porters and cleaners and non-registered nursing staff such as health care assistants the new minimum wage of E10,100 (over £5 per hour) would represent a considerable increase: for some it could be as much as 11%. that much anyway by the time the deal has been implemented. The entry grade for newly qualified nurses is to rise by 6%.
On top of these increases in basic pay, there is additional money for "modernisation", and a move to standardise payments for unsocial shifts and overtime. the Department of Health as adding just £1 billion to the pay bill, and the NHS managers' mag, the Health But they might have expected to gan
Wage. other "flexibilities" But the whole package was costed by