NHS pay review body: twenty-sixth report 2012 - Official Documents

surplus on its Departmental Expenditure Limit with none of the 22 health boards
registering a deficit. The three NHS trusts in Wales recorded a small surplus of £126,000,
the seven health boards registered a surplus of £451,000 and no trusts or health boards
recorded a deficit for 2009/10. Northern Ireland recorded a deficit of £109 million.
3.57 The Staff Side concluded that the NHS had managed its resources effectively to stay well
within budget. However, they considered that the financial challenges were not down to
the service’s costs but the political decision to impose a budget on the NHS for the next
three years that fails to meet the level of anticipated demand. The Staff Side added that
further increases in inflation meant that the Government’s funding now represented a
cut in the NHS budget in real terms. The Staff Side estimated incremental progression
accounted for 1.4% of the total pay bill (based on UNISON’s calculations in its 2010
evidence). A £250 increase for those earning £21,000 or less would add 0.3% to the NHS
pay bill bringing the total pay related pressure to 1.7% – well below the 2.65% annual
increase in the NHS budget.
3.58 UNISON also analysed the financial position and concluded that a certain level of
accumulated reserves had been built up by trusts and health boards. Given the financial
restrictions being placed on the service, UNISON considered that increases in the pay
bill due to incremental pressures were well within the allocated budgetary rises and must
be seen in the context of a likely squeeze on the scale of the workforce along with its
associated pay bill costs.
Recruitment and Retention
Evidence from the Parties
3.59 The following summarises the main conclusions of the parties in their evidence as they
relate to recruitment and retention including, where identifiable, specific aspects relating
to AfC staff earning £21,000 or less.
3.60 The Department of Health stated that:
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The recruitment and retention position remains very healthy – both among staff
earning basic salaries of £21,000 or less, and across the NHS more generally;
Supply and demand for non-medical staff groups is broadly in balance;
The NHS experienced no difficulty in meeting its requirement to increase the total
non-medical workforce in England by 0.2% to 1,170,576 (headcount) in 2010; and
Scores in the NHS Staff Survey for job satisfaction remained consistently high and
increased in 2010 although staff intention to leave has worsened between 2009 and
2010.
The Devolved Administrations highlighted the following:
• The SGHSCD commented that the Scottish Government had a commitment to no
compulsory redundancies in the NHS and that vacancy rates were at historically low
levels in Scotland;
• The WG were seeking to change the overall AfC staff profile as multi-professional
team working increases – there were too many staff in Bands 2, 5 and 6 and too few
in Bands 3 and 4; and
The
• DHSSPSNI commented that in Northern Ireland the non-medical workforce
reduced by 1.1% between 2009 and 2010. Northern Ireland NHS vacancy rates had
risen across most occupational groups.
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