RCN Eastern calls for pension level playing field for social enterprises 

The Royal College of Nursing in the Eastern region today welcomed news that community nurses in Suffolk will have access to NHS pensions despite working for private sector firm Serco.

Serco is in the process of taking on Suffolk Community Services to provide community health services in the county. In April 2012 Serco created a new company called Integrated Clinical Services Limited (ICSL).

ICSL has been created solely as a vehicle for staff to retain their membership of the NHS pension scheme. ICSL has been granted “employing authority status” by the Department of Health under an Alternative Provider of Medical Services (APMS) contract.

RCN regional director Karen Webb said: “One of the biggest concerns that nursing staff have when they transfer from an NHS employer to a private sector employer is their NHS pension provision. The NHS pension is a good scheme and many nurses have been contributing to it for years. We very much welcome this news for the staff in Suffolk but we’re concerned this is not a level playing field.

In our region some community services have been set up as social enterprises who have not been allowed APMS contracts and so cannot offer new staff access to the NHS pension scheme. “The danger is that large private sector companies like Serco get APMS contracts that give staff access to the NHS pension but small not-for-profit social enterprises don’t and have to provide their own pension schemes which don’t offer the same benefits to nurses as the NHS pension.”

Social enterprises (sometimes called Community Interest Companies) in the Eastern region include:

- Anglian Community Enterprise (NE Essex community services)

- East Coast Community Healthcare (Gt Yarmouth and Waveney community services)