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

Chapter 4 – High Cost Area Supplements and Recruitment and
Retention Premia
Introduction
4.1
44
The Secretary of State’s remit letter confirmed that the Department of Health would
provide evidence, as necessary, on high cost area supplements (HCAS) and recruitment
and retention premia (RRP). Our role under the Agenda for Change (AfC) Agreement
requires us to consider any new cases for HCAS and national RRP.
High Cost Area Supplements
4.2
4.3
Our terms of reference state that we should have regard to regional/local variations in
labour markets and their effects on the recruitment and retention of staff. Under AfC,
high cost area supplements are in place for Inner London, Outer London and the Fringe
with the supplement values based on a percentage of individuals’ salary, with a minimum
and maximum cash payment. The percentages, minima and maxima depend on the
area, with Inner London attracting the highest supplement and the Fringe areas of
London the lowest.
There was no evidence presented on HCAS for this report and therefore we make no
recommendations for any new supplements.
National Recruitment and Retention Premia
4.4
4.5
In evidence for this report, we received an application for a national RRP from the
Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) relating to building craft
workers. We also received information from Unite relating to pharmacists for whom
we highlighted some ongoing concerns in our Twenty-Fifth Report1 . In addition, the
Royal College of Midwives asked us to keep newly qualified midwives under review for a
national RRP.
We review the evidence for each of these in later sections of this chapter. However, to
ensure that the parties can present robust future evidence in support of any case for a
national RRP, we summarise the provisions of the AfC Agreement and our approach as set
out in our recent reports2 .
AfC Agreement
4.6
3 The AfC Agreement provides for the operation of recruitment and retention premia
designed to address labour market difficulties affecting specific occupational groups but
applying to posts and not to individuals. Section 5 of the NHS Terms and Conditions
Handbook states that RRP apply where market pressures would otherwise prevent the
employer from being able to recruit staff to and retain staff in sufficient numbers for the
posts concerned. The AfC Agreement allows premia to be awarded on a national basis
to particular groups on our recommendation where there are national recruitment and
retention pressures. The level of payment should be specified or, where the underlying
problem is considered to vary across the country, guidance should be given to employers
on the appropriate level of payment. In making such recommendations we are
1 NHSPRB (2011), Twenty-Fifth Report, TSO (Cm 8029), paragraph 4.44.
2 NHSPRB (2011), Twenty-Fifth Report, TSO (Cm 8029), paragraphs 4.4 – 4.8.
3
Section 5 and Annex R of NHS Staff Council NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook (Amendment Number 24),
Pay Circular (AforC) 3/2011.