- Conference
- 2007 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 20 December 2006
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference notes the report on the progress towards agreeing a new unsocial hours payment scheme for all NHS workers covered by the Agenda for Change agreement.
We are concerned that these proposals will leave members in some branches worse off than the interim arrangements – for example ambulance members working a full 24 hour rota.
This is against the policy passed at conference in 2005 which states:
“Conference reaffirms our clear position that there should be not detriment in comparison with interim arrangements. We will not accept any further losers in this next stage of implementation of Agenda for Change. This is not just a matter of protecting unsocial hours payments for existing members, but also ensuring that individuals and staff groups who are eligible for unsocial hours payments in the future suffer no detriment compared with the interim arrangements”.
And which was then reaffirmed in 2006 by conference policy which said:
“No further protection will be required to safe guard our members earnings for working unsocial hours. Conference reaffirms its decision at the 2005 Health Service Conference that there should be no detriment for anyone in comparison with the interim arrangements”.
Conference instructs the SGE that unless there are substantial improvements to the offer which satisfy this requirement, they will have to recommend rejection in the forthcoming membership ballot on this issue.
Conference re-affirms its view that any final proposal for a new harmonised unsocial hours scheme should be put to all members in a ballot.
Ambulance staff are seriously concerned that the preferred option being considered will cause detriment to the majority of its members and we instruct the Health Group Executive to honour its commitment given in composite M last year which states that no further protection will be required to safe guard our members earnings for working unsocial hours.