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

Evidence from the Parties
The Health Departments
3.67 The Department of Health strongly believed that there was no need to give these staff
(earning £21,000 or less) an annual increase in excess of £250 in 2012/13. It considered
that this level of uplift was appropriate to protect those on low incomes. A flat rate
£250 increase represented a recurrent and pensionable pay increase of between 1.2%
and 1.8% and would add £125 million to the pay bill. The Department considered a
flat £250 increase would be the most simple, fair and equitable approach. It added
that this approach avoided leapfrogging and any recalibration of the system which
might be necessary to address the proximity of the pay points might be carried out
following the end of the pay freeze. The Department estimated that, at September 2010,
approximately 350,000 full time equivalent AfC staff earned £21,000 or less – around
450,000 in headcount terms – representing around 40% of non-medical staff.
3.68 The SGHSCD considered that the 2012/13 uplift for NHS staff earning £21,000 or
under should be a flat rate of £250. For NHSScotland AfC staff, a £250 flat rate increase
for those currently earning less than £21,000 would equate to a percentage increase
of between 1.2% and 1.8%. In 2011/12, there were an estimated 46,000 whole time
equivalent staff earning less than £21,000 who would qualify for the £250 flat rate uplift.
This equated to 40% of all AfC staff and the estimated cost of applying the £250 uplift in
Scotland would be £16 million.
3.69 The SGHSCD would also continue to apply the Scottish “living wage” to NHS pay scales.
This was currently set at £7.15 per hour for staff undertaking a 37.5 hour week and the
Scottish Government had already made a commitment to the lowest paid by uplifting
it to £7.20 from 1 April 2012. The SGHSCD added that this policy could continue to be
implemented in NHSScotland without affecting the architecture of current AfC pay scales.
3.70
We note the intention to uprate the Scottish “living wage” and ask that SGHSCD keep us
informed of further uprating and any implications for the AfC pay structure.
3.71 The WG agreed with the arguments put forward by the Department of Health and
believed it would be appropriate for a flat rate increase of £250 to be awarded to NHS
staff in Wales earning less than £21,000 for 2012/13.
3.72 The DHSSPSNI stated that there was no flexibility to afford pay costs except the increases
of £29 million identified without impacting on patient care. It added that £11 million
of this funding had been provided for the minimum increase of £250 for staff earning
less than £21,000 and the remaining £18 million was the estimated cost of incremental
progression. AfC staff numbers earning a full time equivalent of £21,000 or less were
27,160.
NHS Employers
3.73 NHSE commented that a £250 increase for lower paid staff added around 0.4% to the
pay bill. They calculated that staff earning £21,000 or less would receive increments
worth around 3.3% in 2012/13 and that 36% of the non-medical workforce earned
under £21,000 and 64% of these would receive incremental increases of between 1.8
and 3.7%. NHSE added that compression between pay points 15 and 16 would have to
be considered following the pay freeze.
3.74 NHSE concluded that there were no labour market problems affecting the under £21,000
group and no evidence to support a recommendation above the minimum flat rate of
£250.
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