- Conference
- 2015 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 3 December 2014
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference is concerned that changes to Agenda for Change that came into effect in April 2013 were not Equality Impact Assessed to measure the disproportionate effect on disabled health workers. Circulars issued by NHS Employers make no reference to scrutiny undertaken with regard to disability aspects of the revised terms and conditions and no separate advice has been issued to confirm the employer has taken responsibility for its legal duties under the Equality Act 2010. Examples of where disability equality should have been of obvious consideration by NHS Employers include mileage rates and on-call allowance/payments:
Mileage rates – the maximum reimbursement mileage rate of 35,000 per annum with no proviso that alternative arrangements for disabled drivers can be considered. Some disabled drivers are still unable to access public transport systems despite the legally determined end date for accessibility being set at 2020. Those disabled staff who depend on car use for mobility at work will be penalised in the current employer reimbursement arrangements for maximum use; they could face having to meet the additional cost of work personally because no remedy has been identified on the impact of terms of car mileage.
On-call allowances/payments – are paid during periods of sickness absence where these are normally paid at regular intervals and relate to staff on pay spine points 1 – 8 only. Two factors draw attention to this condition of employment, firstly the system of absence management does not discount periods of absence related to disability, this will distort absence monitoring and skew the ‘normality’ of on-call work. Secondly, there are still too few opportunities for disabled workers to progress through the ranks and clustering of disabled staff are likely to be found in the lower paid pay scales.
Conference calls upon the Health Service Group Executive to:
1) write to NHS Employers about what action it has taken to meet its Disability Equality Duty, including evidence of Equality Impact Assessments in accordance with its legal requirements under the Equality Act 2010, this should apply to the two examples given above as well as other amended terms with effect from April 2013
2) issue appropriate guidance to branches for them to negotiate an end to disability discrimination.