- Conference
- 2005 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 30 December 2004
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference notes that just prior to the Special Conference on Agenda for Change the Government announced £30 million would be made available to support the funding of back-fill for union activists to enable us to implement it properly. This was then clarified as being £15 million in 2004/5 and £15 million in 2005/6.
Facility time is a big issue in many NHS organisations and the experience of too many activists is of making an unsatisfactory compromise between providing a quality service to the public or to their members, of putting pressure on their colleagues, their families or their own health. Given the massive additional task of properly implementing Agenda for Change this funding of back-fill to reduce the pressure on activists was particularly welcome.
Since then Conference has been dismayed that the Government has reduced this funding by a third, down to £20 million, to fund the additional unsocial hours costs associated with the Agenda for Change package. It has also taken money out to give direct to Foundation Trusts (whether their fair share or not is currently unclear) and has opted to channel this money through Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts in a way that more may be diverted before it reaches individual Trusts.
Conference calls upon the Government to restore the £10 million, and any other money that can be identified as being diverted to other purposes, and to distribute this in a way that makes sure each Trust gets an equal level of funding for each member of staff (or Whole Time Equivalent) they employ.
We further call upon the Government to ensure that these funds are only spent at individual Trust level in ways agreed through joint staff side and management partnership bodies for Agenda for Change implementation, not by management in isolation.
We also call on the Government to consider the establishment of a regular grant to support both ongoing union participation in Agenda for Change (grading reviews, matching & evaluation of new posts, Knowledge & Skills Framework development, etc.) and to fund other union contributions to the development of the NHS such as in Improving Working Lives, partnership working, health & safety and lifelong learning.
Conference recognises that 2004 and 2005 are exceptional because of the transfer to the Agenda for Change system, but believes around half the original £15 million/year (about £6 per member of staff per year) would be a modest level of ongoing funding. This should be direct to individual Trusts, on condition it’s spending should be agreed in partnership, and on top of any other funding to StHAs, etc., to support other new initiatives.
Conference further recognises that ultimately the responsibility for providing trade union facilities, including time off and back-fill, lies with the individual NHS employer and that the Trade Union Facilities Agreement (AfC) is being ignored by many Trusts. We call upon the SGE to ensure that a claim is lodged at the Staff Council to improve the agreement and have it included in the Terms and Conditions Handbook.