RCN members: Want to comment on annual leave unsocial hours payments?
Published: 07 April 2009
RCN members may contact the RCN if they wish to comment on the unsocial hours payments for those on annual leave, agreed by NHS employee organisations and trade unions following a consultation in 2008.
The NHS Staff Council consulted on the question of how annual leave pay should be calculated to ensure that unsocial hours payments are included. The outcome was the RCN's preferred option - the same method of calculation as that used to calculate sick pay. That is, an average of the previous three months or some other locally agreed reference period.
This ensures that staff who work significant unsocial hours will be appropriately paid whilst on annual leave. The RCN felt that it was inappropriate to have two calculations (one for annual leave and one for sickness absence) for the same entitlement of 'pay as if at work'.
If this preferred option is adopted as an amendment to the Handbook by the Staff Council, it will mean that the alternative methods of calculation still in use in some organisations should end.
If you would like to comment on this, please read the Staff Council report (Word 60.5KB). This explains why this option has been preferred and why other options were rejected. Then send your feedback to RCN Senior Employment Relations Adviser, Gerry O'Dwyer. Email: gerry.o'dwyer@rcn.org.uk.