Varying rates could undermine NHS pay harmonisation

Proposals to vary nurses' overtime rates threaten to undermine a central tenet of the NHS Agenda for Change programme to deliver pay harmonisation to some 1.2 million staff, according to the Royal College of Nursing.

NHS employers' organisation deputy director Alastair Henderson said that introducing different rates for different pay bands could represent the only way for NHS trusts to offer staff an incentive to work extra unsocial hours.

But the RCN argues that the proposals "completely undermine the principle of harmonisation and equal pay".

The AfC programme, the biggest job evaluation exercise ever undertaken, was rolled out nationally on 1 December. Negotiations to devise a new system for overtime payments are due to start later this month.

  • Agenda for Change programme threatened by pay row    Michael MIllar reports, from personneltoday.com.

  • Varying rates for unsocial hours 'undermines deal'    Further information on this story, as published on the website of Nursing Standard magazine.

    Also

    NHS Agenda for Change in focus    HR & Compliance Centre presents a wide range of resources on AfC and its implications for NHS HR practitioners.