Unsocial hours

Updated: 23 November 2009

AfC unsocial hours payments while on annual leave - AFC Section 13

New arrangements have been confirmed for payment of unsocial hours on annual leave.

The Pay Circular (3/2009) (Word 127KB) includes the new AfC Section 13 enabling annual leave pay to be paid as if at work and on the same basis that unsocial hours (USH) are paid on occupational sick pay. This information is  now available on the NHS Employers website.

You will be aware that pay on annual leave should be paid on the basis as if the worker had been at work. That means that if they received USH payments their annual leave pay should reflect this. We have been trying to resolve how this can be delivered within AfC following the last USH agreement (effective April 1 2008).

Because many NHS employers were unable to make the appropriate calculation to reflect an individuals annual leave entitlement many staff continued to have the pre-April 2008 uplift of 11.59% applied to their wages. This level of uplift however only covered those with 27 days annual leave and many staff with a greater entitlement lost out.

Where staff had the 11.59% uplift made they will now receive 'back pay' by having a further 0.91% added to these payments back to April 1 2008.

Please amend your AFC handbooks to include the new Section 13.

Contractual continuity of service (AfC Section 12) and working time (AfC Section 27)

Pay circular (2/2009) (PDF 109KB) [How to access PDF files] covers two issues: calculation of working time and how NHS service that has been transferred out to a non-NHS provider delivering NHS funded services can be dealt with if that person then returns to NHS employment (as in someone going out under TUPE and then returning); and how working time can be calculated for the duration of the flu pandemic.

Essentially when an employee who has transferred out of the NHS in these circumstances and then returns, their service out of the NHS will be recognised for sick pay, annual leave and incremental credit. This is a major benefit to those who return to NHS service and recognises that the service they have undertaken delivering NHS funded services will be recognised back in the NHS.

The working week

In order to manage services appropriately in the possibility of a flu pandemic the 17 week reference period for the 48 hour calculation can be extended to 27 weeks but only with union agreement and in 'exceptional circumstances'.

New sections 12 and 27 are in the circular and should be put in your handbooks

New USH arrangements

New unsocial hours arrangements for NHS staff have been agreed by the NHS Executive.

The new rates came into effect on 1 April 2008. Where rates have increased or decreased, there will be a transition process between 2008 and 2011 where people affected will be moved across to the new scales.

Under the new scheme, the rate for registered nurses will not change while rates for health care assistants on bands one to three will rise. The 'cap' at band six has been removed.

The arrangements at a glance

All staff in the same band are for the first time paid the same rate for working unsocial hours.

Registered nurses retain their current rates of "time plus 30%" for working unsocial hours on Saturdays and weekdays, and "time plus 60%" for Sundays and public holidays.

And the current cap at the top of band six is removed, allowing all registered nurses - including those on bands seven, eight and nine - to receive the supplement on their full earnings.

Meanwhile, unsocial hours payments for many health care assistants have risen. Supplements for band three staff increased from 33% to 37% for Saturdays and weekdays, and from 66% to 74% for Sundays and public holidays.

The '50% rule' is retained where if more than half of your shift is an unsocial hours period you are be paid unsocial hours payments on the full shift.

The new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 2008.

The new rates are as follows:

Any time on Saturday (midnight to midnight) and any week day after 8 pm and before 6 am:

  • Band 1 - Time plus 50%
  • Band 2 - Time plus 44%
  • Band 3 - Time plus 37%
  • Band 4-9 - Time plus 30%.

All time on Sundays and Public Holidays (midnight to midnight):

  • Band 1 - Double time
  • Band 2 - Time plus 88%
  • Band 3 - Time plus 74%
  • Band 4-9 - Time plus 60%.

Where the new rate is different than in the Agenda for Change interim arrangements, there is a transitional phase to 31 March 2011. Over this period, staff move gradually to the new rates.

Payment of Agenda for Change unsocial hours during annual leave

The NHS Staff Council consulted with NHS employee organisations and trade unions during 2008, on the question of how annual leave pay should be calculated to ensure that unsocial hours payments are included.

New arrangements came into place on 1 April 2010.  Pay will be calculated over a reference period (three months or other agreed reference period) as happens with occupational sick pay. Staff who continued to have their unsocial hours arrangements uplifted by 11.59% after 1 April 2008 should have their unsocial hours uplifted by a further 0.91% backdated to 1 April 2008.

Read AFC Pay Circular 3 / 2009 (PDF 92KB) [see how to access PDF files].