Agenda for Change (New pay scheme in NHS)

Well I am sure that some of you will have received your A4C letters outlining your new salary.... for those of your who are not up to speed with the whole A4C fiasco it has taken nearly 3 years for the Service and unions to agree the terms and conditions of this new deal, there has been rumours flying all ways in regards to the payments that staff will receive and how staff will be better off because they are now getting paid for working "Unsocial" hours (between 7pm and 7am Mon to Fri and all day Sat and Sunday), disturbed meal breaks and public holidays. Well the big day arrived on Saturday and the brown stuff well and truly hit the rotating thing at a great speed... basically as a qualified Technician within the SAS you can expect to earn £22,271.00 basic salary, with my weekend hours I get a further £495.56 that gives me a grand total of £22,855.65 now that sounds not bad so you would expect that the A4C payment would match or better this.... Well my new basic salary is £19,248.00 YES that is £3,023.00 less than what I currently earn, once I receive my "Unsocial" payments which because I am relief is calculated on a 3 monthly period unlike the permanent board members who receive 25% flat rate payment, I come out with 17% which equates to £3,272.16 giving me a new grand total of £22,520.16, now for those of you who can count that is £335.40 less per year than what I currently earn so I have that difference protected. This means that I am no better off and potentially I will lose out if my "unsocial" % changes in the next 3-month reference period!!!!

We have also been offered a £250 per year payment for having our meals disturbed along with £5 per shift regardless of how many times we are disturbed, this means that technically you could work 12 hours and have 5 or 6 disturbed attempts at a break or no break at all and only receive £5!!! One of my colleagues worked it out that they would get 80 pence per shift if they continue to have their meal disturbed at the current level!! (Can't find anywhere that sells replacement meals for 80p)

As you can gather there is a lot of unhappy staff within the service at the moment and it seems that the unions have taken 3 years to negotiate a pay cut for Technicians!!!!


Thanks guys