Alongside Unison colleagues, we met with the trust management as part of an ACAS conciliation meeting to discuss our dispute about the pay our members are receiving for working voluntary additional hours in their contractual roles.

Employees are currently asked to undertake voluntary additional hours through the bank scheme and are paid at their flat contractual hourly rate (plus unsocial hours payments). But this is not in line with Agenda for Change terms and conditions of employment.

The RCN argues that members undertaking additional hours in their usual department should be paid at time-and-a-half, as stated under Agenda for Change, when working beyond their contracted 37.5 hours a week. 

During a lengthy meeting, we put forward our case for full restoration of AfC terms and conditions relating to overtime. The meeting also considered the rate of pay for “on call” duties, which has been frozen since 1997.

Members also gave their testimony detailing the impact reduced pay can have on their quality of life.

The following next steps were agreed:

For all staff:

• To hold a further conciliation meeting in April alongside ACAS to discuss overtime pay, with the trust confirming its position.
• A meeting about on-call rates will be held by the end of April to look at future pay enhancements in accordance with the annual cost of living awards.

In addition for theatres staff:

• Meetings will happen with Band 6 and 7 staff to outline the requirements of band 7 staff when working in a band 6 shift.
• Issues around GDPR and use of barcodes with agency staff will be resolved by 3 April.
• Within a week the trust will share a proposal on how they will harmonise the private patients rate on both sites.

The RCN will now consider its next steps should an offer be made by the trust. We encourage all BHT members to keep looking for emails from us as we will continue to update you as discussions continue.

Please make sure all your details are up-to-date on MyRCN.