Staff are set to benefit from an extra £30m, which is being given to the NHS to help the implementation of the Government’s Agenda for Change programme.
The programme is designed to ensure fair pay and a clearer system for career progression in the NHS for a million employees in the health sector.
The extra funding will go towards compensating NHS organisations for the time staff spend negotiating or implementing Agenda for Change. For example, it will allow them to employ locums for the time staff are involved in sitting on job evaluation boards or negotiating local implementation deals.
Minister for health John Hutton said: “Because Agenda for Change is not just about pay, but also a new partnership between staff and employers, I can confirm today that additional resources of around £30m will be made available to support its implementation.“
Hutton said the costs incurred by NHS organisations in releasing trade union representatives to participate in the implementation of the new pay system would be the first priority for the extra resource.
