Frequently asked questions

Here you can find answers to a selection of FAQs about how implementation of the Agenda for Change review's recommendations will affect you.

We will be updating this information and adding new FAQs as more detail becomes available - check back here in the coming weeks for updates.

The protected learning agreement will come into effect from 1 April 2024, the Scottish government will provide instruction to NHS employers, which will explain how the agreement should work in practice within health boards.   

The implementation will be monitored locally though existing partnership arrangements and nationally by the Scottish Workforce and Governance committee (SWAG).

Annual leave is accrued in days. If your working pattern requires you to take your leave in hours, the number of days is converted to hours by multiplying your annual leave entitlement by the number of hours you work in one day.

For example, for annual leave of 27 days and a 7.5-hour working day, the number of annual leave hours would be 27 x 7.5 = 202.5 hours.

From 1 April 2024, the working day will be 7.4 hours, therefore, any leave calculations will be based this – 27 x 7.4 = 199.8. 

So, although it appears hours are being deducted from the annual leave allocation, but you will be at work for a shorter period of time. This will not impact you financially as your pay will remain the same.

The aim is to reduce the working week to 36 hours by 2026 and so annual leave will be adjusted accordingly.

Despite the delay in receiving approval from Scottish government, the reduced working week will start from 1 April 2024.

No, there will be no reduction to your annual salary level it will remain the same despite working less per week, there will be a slight increase in the rate of pay per hour as a result.

All staff on Agenda for Change terms and conditions will benefit from the reduced working week. For part-time staff, your working week will be reduced on a pro rata basis.

Part-time staff will be treated consistently in line with those on full-time contracts so will experience a proportionate reduction in hours. If you wish to retain your current number of hours, you should discuss this with your manager.

It is not your manager’s decision – the final decision will be taken at health board level and involve trade unions.

In the limited number of circumstances where services would be adversely affected, staff will be paid for additional hours worked at appropriate excess hours or overtime rates. The use of these short-term payments is only intended to help services put the necessary plans in place to reduce the working week and will be monitored nationally.

Throughout this negotiation, we have taken the view that staff are the experts on rosters and working patterns. Your manager should work with you and your team to identify the best solution. For some staff that might be an early finish on a Friday (or another day of the week). For others it will mean starting a few minutes later or finishing a few minutes earlier every shift. And for others it could mean that they save up the minutes and finish two hours earlier one day in the payroll month. However, the reduction should not be achieved by extending unpaid breaks.

Yes. This is the first step in reducing the standard working week for staff on Agenda for Change terms and conditions across the NHS to 36 hours over three years. Trade unions are working with Scottish government and employers to ensure that this happens by 2026.

This is not appropriate. The reduction in the working week is a health and well-being measure. Extending the working day does not achieve this objective.

Bank shifts are determined by the needs of the service and normally align to the prevailing shift pattern in the clinical area.

The reduction of the normal working week across the NHS means that overtime rates will apply for hours worked beyond 37 per week. So, if you work more than 37 hours in bank shifts in any one week, the additional time will be paid at overtime rates.

All band 5 nurses will be entitled to have their role reviewed. The review will be conducted using the Agenda for Change Job Evaluation Scheme. Applicants will therefore need to show that they are required to work at a higher technical/professional or managerial level than that identified in the band 5 nurse job evaluation profile.

Your employer will write to you with details of how to progress your review application. Due to the delay in Scottish government signing off on the agreement, we are awaiting the detailed information with the full process but work on this is now in its final stages. We are working with the employers currently to complete a standard form and clear process for band 5 nurse regrading claims. Once finalised the process will be published, and organisations will write to each band 5 nurse as part of the process.

No, it is not necessary to agree a new job description with your manager for the review of band 5 nursing roles - a specific pro forma has been devised to speed up and make the process easier.

The agreement reached with the Scottish government confirms that any band 5 nurse who is regraded will have their pay backdated to 1 April 2023, if they can demonstrate that they were working at a higher level on or before 1 April 2023.

Yes. Under Agenda for Change you can use the Job Evaluation Scheme which allows for any member of staff to apply for a review of their banding using the ‘new and changed job’ procedures. In short you need to demonstrate that your job has changed, becoming more complex, technically demanding or requires a higher level of responsibility.

The review of band 5 nursing roles was agreed as part the non-pay elements of the 2023/24 pay deal. The RCN has been able to demonstrate that many band 5 nurses are now working well beyond the levels of clinical expertise, judgement and responsibility that is expected of the in the original band 5 nurse job evaluation profile. During the pay talks, we used this information to secure a commitment to a service wide review of band 5 nursing posts. Historically band 5 nurses have been significantly less successful in even starting a banding review than nurses at other bands.