This SLT Advisory Committee welcomes union policy of opposing the implementation of Agenda for Change if adequate funding is not obtained and if full pay protection is not achieved for members who may lose out.
We support the joint attempt by the RCSLT and Amicus to amend job profiles and to create new profiles to fill identified gaps. However, we are opposed to signing off any profiles until we have agreement with the DOH on a complete set of profiles that provides a satisfactory career structure for all SLTs, and written agreement with the DOH on how these profiles will be applied.
We believe that if we sign off some profiles, then SLTs will be slotted into these - whether this is appropriate or not. We further believe that reliance on recruitment and retention premia would leave many of our members at risk, as these payments are not secure.
We believe - in line with many reports from Amicus MSF - that Agenda for Change is seriously under-funded. We are opposed to pay cuts for our members, and therefore call on the SLT NAC to reject these profiles until a satisfactory outcome is achieved for all SLTs. We urge the SLT NAC to call on the union leadership to publicise and implement union policy on Agenda for Change. We also urge the SLT NAC to make common cause with the other groups of Amicus members facing substantial pay cuts - particularly clinical psychologists, operating department practitioners, and pharmacists - and to invite representatives from these professions to the next SLT NAC.
We further believe that the union must ensure that the fullest possible consultation with SLTs nationally takes place, given the severity of the threat to our profession. We hope to see the draft profiles distributed to every SLT member, consultation meetings open to all SLT union members taking place in every region, and the next SLT NAC to be opened up to as many SLTs as possible.
This NAC resolves that no profiles for SLTs and SLT Assistants will be signed off unless they have been accepted in a full postal ballot of the Amicus membership of these groups.
London SLT Advisory Committee
3rd September 2003