Pay tops the agenda at health conference

Flexible working and a 35-hour work week were debated in Liverpool on Tuesday afternoon

Sara Gorton - Health conference

The focus of health conference turned to pay on Tuesday afternoon, starting with a presentation on the current NHS pay round from Sara Gorton (pictured), UNISON’s national secretary for health, and Helga Pile, senior national officer for health.

After setting out the differing context of the 2022/23 pay round in each of the four nations of the UK, they laid out the six core elements of the health service group’s pay strategy, which calls for:

  • put pay right – an inflation-busting pay rise;
  • end poverty pay – pay higher than the real living wage to all in the NHS;
  • grade workers correctly for the job they do;
  • pay the hours people work;
  • fix unfinished business in the pay structure – promotions should come with pay rises;
  • invest in workers’ futures – and get apprentices the right pay.

They also identified the longer-term goals of the service group to:

  • make pay and earnings a strategic issue – not a narrow annual event;
  • secure more power in annual pay rise determinations;
  • increase participation of members so that we have a real ability to challenge outcomes.

After the presentation, conference moved onto motions that dealt with Agenda for Change pay, terms and conditions.

Pay outcomes 2022/23 – member consultation

The session kicked off by carrying a motion around conducting member consultations. Moving the motion, Moira McKenna, speaking on behalf of the service group executive (SGE), said: “We know the Westminster government is likely to drag its heels again this year. We hope we won’t be, but we may be waiting another three months before receiving an offer on pay.”

Ms McKenna urged conference to pass the motion, which calls on the SGE to consult members across the UK on pay, in order to put the service group in a strong negotiating position and give it the ability to “react as quickly as possible over the next few months,” regardless of when Westminster or the devolved governments bring offers to the table.

Gareth Drinkwater of Dorset health, supporting the motion, noted that: “The last time we had an above inflation pay deal was around the financial crash, when we had deflation.” He called it, “an absolute joke”.

Meanwhile Sean Sawyer, of Hastings and Eastbourne health branch, emphasised that the staggering of the pay deals across the different parts of the UK was a “deliberate ploy to divide us,” adding: “UNISON needs to stand up as one voice and say it doesn’t matter where you are from, in the UK, you deserve a proper pay deal.”

35-hour work week

Motion 2 called on the SGE to prepare a case for the introduction of a 35-hour work week without a reduction in pay. Mary Little from Northern Ireland health moved the motion, citing the improvements in work-life balance it would bring and saying: “Now is the time to put this demand front and centre in each part of the UK as we face the common fight to lift pay and conditions.”

Before the motion carried, Ellie Badcock from Barking, Havering and Brentwood health branch, told conference: “It’s the little things that make the difference,” before speaking of her own experience of having a 30-minute lunch-break while the nearest food shop was 15 minutes walk away.

She said: “Our members deserve to have a life outside of work, we deserve to ask for more, not just keep our heads above water.”

Flexible and home-working policies

The next motion called on the SGE to lead negotiations through NHS staff council structures to produce home-working policies which deal with:

  • health, safety, and wellbeing considerations;
  • interaction with allowances, expenses and tax;
  • equalities implications;
  • impact on workplace culture, covering line management, inclusion, choice and autonomy.

SGE speaker Lynn Boothman highlighted that: “If NHS organisations get flexible working right it could be a huge benefit in retaining staff and recruiting new. People shouldn’t feel forced to leave the jobs they love because they can’t make them fit with the shifts or physical locations of the role. Getting this right means we can help more people stay in work.”

Karen Candlin, for Greater Manchester health, said: “It’s all about flexibility and choice, but without the policy it doesn’t happen. We need to make this a way of life.”

Emphasising the relationship between flexible working and NHS vacancies, Paul Toby cited the fact that in his trust, time and time again flexible working requests are refused because people can’t be found to cover shifts.

He said: “It shouldn’t be a lottery where we ask for it and we ‘may get it’.”