Manx Care pay award FAQs
Below you can find answers to questions you may have around the Manx Care pay award.
This pay award relates to all health and social care staff directly employed by Manx Care on the Isle of Man on an Manx Pay Terms and Conditions (MPTC) contract.
The RCN, alongside other recognised trade unions on the Isle of Man, have been negotiating with Manx Care since May 2021. Collectively the unions were seeking a pay award of 15%. However, the staff side proposal remains at 15% for both 2021/22 and 2022/23 plus one-off payment £500 per staff member.
The RCN expects this to be a fully-funded pay award from the Isle of Man Government.
In the absence of an agreement on the original 4% pay offer the employer imposed a 4% award for 21-22. Following conciliation talks, the offer from management is 4% for 2021/22 and 4% 2022/23 with no additional one off payment. Membership will now be balloted on whether to accept or reject this revised offer.
Management have paid 4% pay award for 21-22 to all Manx Care staff in April 2022 and paying all outstanding back pay in May 2022 Salary.
A pay rise of 15% would begin to recognise the skill, professionalism and safety critical work of nursing staff that has historically been undervalued. It would encourage the next generation to join nursing and help keep experienced staff in post.
There is overwhelming public support for a pay rise for nursing, especially at this time. The public and RCN members have taken to social media in their tens of thousands to demand #FairPayForNursing right across the whole of the UK.
The effect on an individual’s benefits depends on individual circumstances and the type of benefit. To find more detail on your benefit situation, go to www.gov.im/categories/benefits-and-financial-support.
Members who are facing significant hardship and who need additional support and advice, can also seek support from the RCN Foundation.
The pay award is a gross (total) figure, and you need to take deductions into account when considering the pay award.
Pay is subject to tax, national insurance contributions and, if you are a member of the GUS pension scheme, pension contributions. You should check your current income tax, national insurance rates and pension contributions on your pay slip to assess how the pay award will affect your take-home pay.
Further information is also available on the IoM government website.
Rises in pensionable pay can affect the contributions you will pay into the scheme.
Some staff, as a consequence of their annual pay uplift and/or incremental pay progression, may end up paying a higher percentage of contributions. This is because their pensionable earnings have increased, and they move into a higher tier in the pension contribution framework.
This may make it seem like the value of the individuals pay uplift has been lost. Staff receiving pensionable allowances in addition to their basic pay (for example unsocial hours payments) may also be affected by this.
With a final offer from Manx Care for a pay award, the RCN was duty bound to ballot members to garner views on whether the proposed offer was acceptable to them or not.
The RCN has been campaigning for Fair Pay for Nursing across the whole of the UK.
This campaign is led by your Council and Trade Union Committee, and they believe RCN members should be heard on the acceptability or otherwise of this pay award.
A pay award is when an employer (such as Manx Care) or government (Department of Health and Social Care) that controls pay decides on the pay for staff and implements that decision by automatically applying it to the employee’s contract of employment.
A pay offer is usually generated from discussions or negotiations between an employer or government that controls pay, and the employees or the employees’ trade union.
Once an offer is made, the employees are given an opportunity to consider if they wish to accept the offer made by the employer or government.
A pay award is when an employer or government that controls pay decides on pay for the staff and implements that decision by automatically applying it to the employee’s salary. In these circumstances, a recommendation would be redundant.
In the consultative ballot in April, the majority of respondents indicated they found the original pay award unacceptable. With no agreement reached in conciliation talks, the RCN will now ballot members on the increased pay offer and seek an indication on whether members would consider any form of industrial action.
The Trade Union Committee agreed principles on responding to the issue of members’ pay. One of the main principles was that members must be given the opportunity to have their say on pay offers or awards that affect them – regardless of whether they are awards or offers.
The RCN sought your views on whether you considered the pay award to be acceptable or unacceptable to shape the appropriate next steps to progress Fair Pay for Nursing.
The RCN regards industrial action as a last resort. Before considering industrial action, the RCN would conduct a consultative ballot of eligible RCN members to understand if there is an appetite for industrial action and the type of action members would be prepared to take.
After this, if the majority of members responding to the ballot indicated a willingness to take part in industrial action, a formal statutory industrial action ballot would be required before industrial action could take place. The RCN has set out the process it would follow in the RCN Industrial Action Handbook.
Remember, there has been no agreement for industrial action to take place and again, industrial action of any kind is a last resort. A formal statutory industrial action ballot would be required before industrial action could take place.
Industrial action takes many forms, not just strike action. There is also action short of a strike such as working strictly to the terms of your contract of employment often referred to as “working to rule”.
By working to rule, you are withdrawing the goodwill that your employer often relies on to carry out its business effectively.
The RCN has set out the process it would follow in the Industrial Action Handbook.
Staff side agreed to engage in conciliation whilst making it clear that the collective memberships would need to be consulted with on any outcome. The talks resulted in an improved offer for 2022/2023, namely an increase from 2% to 4%. There was no increase to the 2021/2022 award which remains at 4%.
All MPTC meetings have been postponed until conciliation is progressed. A new Partnership Forum has been created which will meet on 19 May 2022 to address all other Manx Care staff side business.
The outcome of the conciliation talks is that the 2020/21 offer remains at 4%. Conciliation failed with the process placed on hold as requested by management to consider a 2-year deal. Manx Care requested that a final offer of 4% for 2022/23 was put to the membership which staff side agreed to do.
The North West Board have moved to ballot members on both whether they will accept or reject the new offer and, if the offer is rejected, would they be willing to take any form of industrial action. The ballot will run from 11 - 26 July. Members will receive their ballot by email from Civica, who will run the ballot on behalf of the RCN.
You can find out more about the campaign on the RCN website at www.rcn.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/fair-pay-for-nursing/latest-updates.
To update your details, log in to MyRCN or call RCN Direct on 0345 772 6100 (select option one), or email membership@rcn.org.uk. You must include your membership number in your email, and you will be asked for it if you call. You can find out more about RCN membership and other ways to get in touch on our membership FAQs.
