From amicus - MSF
Head of Health, Gail Cartmail General Secretary, Roger Lyons
Reps Direct should be forwarded by email to other members and put in printed form on the notice boards for all to see, both members and non-members.
These are the questions raised by members in EI sites. The answers have been agreed by the staff and management secretariat of Agenda for Change.
Q18. Is there scope for Trusts to set higher rates for
staff eg. Nurses doing extra hours comparable to agency
rates?
A. It is possible to use singly or in combination overtime,
recruitment and retention premier, or in London high cost area
payments (subject to paragraph 3.9 of the agreement.
Q19. Is there any ability to progress staff more quickly
up a pay-band than annual salary point?
A. No.
Q20. Is there any scope to recruit staff at a point
higher than the minimum of the scale?
A. The agreement is silent on this, it is for local
discretion.
Q21. Is the shift change payment (Draft T&C 2.19)
pensionable?
A. No this payment is variable and therefore not
pensionable.
Q22. Where on-call payments apply to staff in receipt of
a long-term recruitment and retention premia how are they
calculated?
A. They should be calculated taking account of both basic pay
and the applicable long-term recruitment and retention
premia.
Q23. Where staff are called out and do work they are
entitled to overtime payments. If they also received long term
recruitment and retention premia how should the overtime be
calculated?
A. It should be calculated taking account of both basic pay
and the applicable long-term recruitment and retention
premia.
Q24. How are the high cost of living areas
defined?
A. The definition of "inner, outer and fringe" remains
unchanged from London weighting.
Q25. How should COLS be treated in areas outside London
and fringe?
A. They should be replaced with long term recruitment and
retention premia payments as in paragraph 3.7 of the
agreement.
Q26. How should Early Implementer sites deal with
situations in which staff side capacity is stretched and
accredited representatives cannot be found?
A. Accredited representatives should always be used if
available. However, common sense should apply and if not
available suitable members of staff identified.
Q27. Are there any plans to improve guidance on the
mileage section?
A. The Staff Council will be reviewing those sections of the
handbook which have been lifted from the Whitley handbook, this
is unlikely to be imminent.
Q28. What is the position on the establishment of a Band
9?
A. This will be reviewed as a result of the experience of
early implementation.