South West Pay Cartel

There is an unprecedented attack on Agenda for Change in the South West —Twenty NHS trusts have joined together to attempt to form their own regional terms and conditions. 

The South West Pay, Terms and Conditions Consortium wants to reduce the pay bill substantially in the South West by moving away from the nationally agreed Agenda for Change and creating their own regional terms and conditions.

This is an unprecedented attack on Agenda for Change. We have previously seen individual trusts attempt to move away from Agenda for Change by creating their own terms and conditions but this is the first time that we have seen a group of trusts working collectively to move away from Agenda for Change.

The South West Pay Cartel is attempting to form their own terms and conditions which include:

·         A reduction in unsocial hours payments

·         Performance related incremental progression  

·         Increasing working hours

·         Reducing annual leave

·         Reviewing pay levels

·         Removal of sickness absence enhancements

The Trusts that have joined the Pay Cartel are:

·         Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

·         Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

·         Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

·         North Bristol NHS Trust

·         Northern Devon Health Care NHS Trust

·         Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust

·         Poole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

·         Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

·         Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust

·         Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust

·         Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

·         Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

·         The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust

·         University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

·         Weston Area Health NHS Trust

·         Yeovil District Hospital NHS Trust

The implications of the Pay Cartel

This could see pay for NHS workers in the South West decrease in value by 15% which will be on top of the pay freeze and the increase in pension contributions which has seen the value of pay for NHS workers decrease substantially over the past two years.

NHS workers are paid on national terms and conditions and negotiations to change terms and conditions should be on a national level. There are flexibilities built into the nationally agreed Agenda for Change which does allow for local variations and NHS Trade Unions work constructively with employers to address local issues. However, the changes that the Pay Cartel are suggesting must be negotiated nationally.

We have made it clear that we believe these cuts to pay, terms and conditions would have a serious detrimental impact across the whole of the South West. NHS trusts will start to lose skilled staff to organisations elsewhere that pay more.

We have also argued that patients will be short changed as  their local hospitals lose the skills required to deliver effective patient care. These moves will also drive down pay and conditions across the South West, including in the private sector, harming the local economy in already uncertain times.

The RCM is appalled that each trust has paid £10,000 to join the pay cartel when they should be spending that money on patient care.

Every year the RCM conducts a survey of all the Heads of Midwifery in the UK. In the 2012 survey which was conducted in July and August we asked what effect regional pay would have on recruitment and retention, only 7% of HOMs thought it would have a positive effect, and the majority of those HOMs worked in London trusts.

What the RCM is doing

The RCM, and other NHS Trade Unions, have made it clear that the trusts in the South West forming a cartel will damage the possibility of national negotiations on Agenda for Change.

NHS Trade Unions have made strong arguments that if the trusts in the South west continue with this it will result in legal challenges, equal pay claims and local action.

The RCM, along with the other NHS Trade Unions have made it clear that we do not recognise this pay cartel, it has no status or authority to enter into negotiations. Local workplace representatives will not be entering into any negotiations with the pay cartel.

This is important for all members, we are aware that trusts in other areas of the country are keeping a close eye on the South West and some are even starting to talk about forming cartels in their regions. If the South West trusts are allowed to introduce regional terms and conditions in all likelihood the other regions will do the same thing.

We have to make sure that we win the fight to keep national terms and conditions and don’t move to regional terms and conditions.

We are busy lobbying and campaigning to prevent this outrageous attack on terms and conditions and working very hard with the local workplace representatives.

What you can do

Join the RCM

If you are not already a member of the RCM this is the time to join! Membership is open to Midwives; Student Midwives; and Maternity Support Workers. Your local workplace rep will have a membership form or you can join online here: http://www.rcm.org.uk/college/membership/categories/

Check your membership details

Please make sure your membership details are correct, you can view your details online here: http://www.rcm.org.uk/college/membership/my-rcm-membership/

Sign the petition

You can help by signing the petition ‘No to Postcode Pay’ - which can be found by following the link: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36063

Write to your local MP

Many MPs, particularly the Liberal Democrats, have criticised the idea of regional pay when George Osborne launched a consultation on the idea at the end of last year. We believe it would be very effective if all members in the South West could write to their local MP to voice their concerns.

You can find your local MP here:http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/

Here is a draft letter that you can copy - all you have to do it fill in the blanks!

Dear  (INSERT MPs name)

I’m a (DELETE AS APPROPRIATE midwife/student midwife/maternity support worker) at (INSERT the name of your trust) and I’m writing to you to let you know about plans that I have heard regarding my employer joining a ‘pay consortium’ which wants to move away from the national Agenda for Change agreement to regional terms and conditions including: increasing working hours, reducing annual leave and reducing levels of pay.

I am very concerned and upset about this. In our maternity unit we work long hours in a physically, mentally and emotionally demanding role. In 2011 across the South West there were 60,794 births compared to 48,747 births in 2001 which is an increase of 25% in the last ten years. Because of this baby boom we are desperately short of midwives in the South West already and I am worried that moving to regional pay will have a negative effect on recruitment and retention of midwives which will result in a negative effect on patient care.

I understand that we are in troubling financial times, we have had our pay frozen in the NHS for the past two years and face a pay cap of 1% for the next two years. On top of that we have seen our pension contributions increase this year and face another two years of increases. To have our pay reduced further by moving to regional terms and conditions is a step too far. To have this happen across the South West would have a devastating effect  on our local economy.

I am particularly concerned about the plans because the nationally agreed Agenda for Change has been equality proofed and is based on the principle of equal pay for equal work. 99% of the midwifery workforce is female with nearly 60% working part time (mainly due to childcare) any moves to regional pay could disproportionately affect female workers and therefore maternity services.

As a constituent I would ask that you write to the Chief Executive of (INSERT the name of your trust) to state your opposition to move away from national terms and conditions.

Your sincerely

(INSERT your name and address)