Agenda for Change

On this page:
NHS:
Summary
Future developments
Pay
Knowledge and Skills Framework
Job Evaluation Scheme
Terms and conditions of employment

General:

NHS

Summary

NHS 10.100

Agenda for Change aims to ensure fair pay and a clearer system of career progression for NHS employees. (See NHS 10.102 Pay)

The Knowledge and Skills Framework lies at the heart of the career and pay progression strand of Agenda for Change. (See NHS 10.103 Knowledge and Skills Framework)

The NHS Job Evaluation Scheme awards points for the skills, effort and knowledge needed to carry out a job. (See NHS 10.104 Job Evaluation Scheme)

Agenda for Change introduces one set of terms and conditions applicable to most staff groups. (See NHS 10.105 Terms and conditions of employment)

Future developments

NHS 10.101 Trusts that are not yet using Agenda for Change will be required to propose tight timetables to achieve completion of assimilation. The Department of Health, NHS Employers and unions will check their performance. All NHS staff should be on the new system by the end of the year.

Agenda for Change is introducing a standard working week of 37.5 hours for all employees. There will be phased protection arrangements for staff whose current standard working hours are above or below 37.5 excluding meal breaks as detailed in section 46 of the terms and conditions handbook.

The NHS Staff Council is reviewing unsocial hours payments in accordance with the final agreement on Agenda for Change. The unsocial hours review aims to introduce a harmonised system of payment for staff whose work is carried out in unsocial hours. The new payment system is due to come into effect from 1 April 2006.

More information
Agenda for Change: NHS terms and conditions of service handbook (PDF format, 339K) (on NHS Employers website)
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Pay

NHS 10.102 Agenda for Change applies to all directly employed NHS staff, except very senior managers, those covered by the Doctors' and Dentists' Pay Review Body and those wishing to remain on local contracts.

The national roll-out of Agenda for Change commenced on 1 December 2004, with pay and most terms and conditions backdated to 1 October 2004.

The current rates of pay for employees working under Agenda for Change are published on the Department of Health website along with information on the points that apply during assimilation to the Agenda for Change system.

An employee's pay band is determined by the Job Evaluation Scheme (see NHS 10.104 Job Evaluation Scheme).

More information
Agenda for Change: Final Agreement (PDF format, 210K) (on Department of Health website)
Pay bands and pay points on second and third pay spines from 1 April 2005 (PDF format, 95K) (on Department of Health website)
Implementation of Agenda for Change from 1 December 2004 (PDF format, 239K) (on Department of Health website)
Agenda for Change: What will it mean for you? A guide for staff (PDF format, 83K) (on Department of Health website)
Agenda for Change: A guide to the new pay, terms and conditions in the NHS (PDF format, 729K) (on Royal College of Nursing website)
Agenda for Change presentation (Microsoft PowerPoint format, 453K) (on Department of Health website)
Agenda for Change Communications Toolkit (PDF format, 73K) (on Department of Health website)
Delivering the HR in the NHS Plan 2004 (PDF format, 3.69MB) (on Department of Health website)
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Pay circulars
Agenda for Change: NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook: Uplifts to pay and certain allowances (PDF format, 238K) (on NHS Employers website)
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Knowledge and Skills Framework

NHS 10.103 The Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) applies to all staff groups who come under the Agenda for Change Agreement and is designed to:

identify the knowledge and skills that NHS staff need to apply in their work in order to deliver quality services;

help guide the development of NHS staff;

provide a single, consistent, comprehensive and explicit framework on which to base review and development for all staff; and

provide the basis of pay progression in the NHS.

The KSF comprises 30 dimensions. Six of these are relevant to every post in the NHS, these being:

communication;

personal and people development;

health, safety and security;

service improvement;

quality; and

equality and diversity.

The other 24 dimensions apply to some jobs in the NHS, but not all. They are grouped into:

health and wellbeing (HWB);

estates and facilities (EF);

information and knowledge (IK); and

general (G).

More information - core dimensions
Core Dimension 1: Communicate with a limited range of people on day-to-day matters (PDF format, 60K) (on Department of Health website)
Core Dimension 2: Personal and People Development (PDF format, 55K) (on Department of Health website)
Core Dimension 3: Health, Safety and Security (PDF format, 58K) (on Department of Health website)
Core Dimension 4: Service Improvement (PDF format, 58K) (on Department of Health website)
Core Dimension 5: Quality (PDF format, 57K) (on Department of Health website)
Core Dimension 6: Equality and Diversity (PDF format, 57K) (on Department of Health website)
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More information - EF
Dimension EF1: Systems, Vehicles and Equipment (PDF format, 55K) (on Department of Health website)
Dimension EF2: Environments and Buildings (PDF format, 55K) (on Department of Health website)
Dimension EF3: Transport and Logistics (PDF format, 56K) (on Department of Health website)
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More information - IK
Dimension IK1: Information Processing (PDF format, 57K) (on Department of Health website)
Dimension IK2: Information Collection and Analysis (PDF format, 59K) (on Department of Health website)
Dimension IK3: Knowledge and Information Resources (PDF format, 58K) (on Department of Health website)
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Job Evaluation Scheme and job matching

NHS 10.104 The NHS Job Evaluation system assesses all jobs consistently across an organisation. In the process of moving to Agenda for Change all posts are matched against existing job profiles or evaluated. Jobs are scored against job evaluation factors by measuring an employee's job-related skills, knowledge and responsibilities, as outlined in the job evaluation questionnaire. The employee is then placed on an Agenda for Change pay band according to his or her score. Once all employees have been moved to the Agenda for Change pay spines, job evaluation will be used only when a new job is created or when a job has changed and needs to be re-evaluated.

More information
Guidance on Reviewing Job Descriptions and Person Specifications (PDF format, 122K) (on UNISON website)
NHS Job Evaluation Handbook: Second Edition (PDF format, 289K) (on Department of Health website)
Job Evaluation Awareness Session (Microsoft PowerPoint format, 825K) (on NHS Modernisation Agency website)
Determining the number and types of jobs in an organisation (Microsoft Word format, 95K) (on NHS Modernisation Agency website)
National job profiles (on Department of Health website)
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Terms and conditions of employment

NHS 10.105 Agenda for Change has introduced one set of terms and conditions applicable to all staff groups apart from doctors and dentists and those who wish to remain on local contracts. Under the initiative recruitment and retention premia and high cost area payments apply. The introduction of harmonisation of working hours means that all employees working under Agenda for Change will eventually have a standard working week set at 37.5 hours (see NHS 10.101 Future developments).

More information
Agenda for Change presentation (Microsoft PowerPoint format, 453K) (on Department of Health website)
Agenda for Change Communications Toolkit (PDF format, 73K) (on Department of Health website)
Agenda for Change: NHS terms and conditions of service handbook (PDF format, 339K) (on NHS Employers website)
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Agenda for Change