NHS - Agenda for Change
The truth is that the NHS has been discriminating against its female staff for decades. This equal pay gap has been widely known (to the employers and trade unions) since 1997 when the first large scale claims were made in Cumbria.
The Cumbria claims established that nursing assistants were doing jobs of equal value to male maintenance workers, but the men were getting paid £4,000 more than the (largely female) nurses. Similarly, highly qualified nurses were earning less than the male electronics technicians - and medical secretaries less then male painters and joiners.
In 2005, the NHS agreed to compensate some of the Cumbria staff with some nurses being paid over £100,000 in back pay. Despite knowing that these cases were likely to succeed, from at least 2001, the trade unions kept silent and failed to inform their members of their rights.
Instead, the trade unions entered into secret negotiations with the employers and agreed to Agenda for Change - rather than pay parity with the male workers.
Agenda for Change has been sold as dealing with Equal Pay, but it is nothing of the sort. It is a mechanism for protecting the men's pay and avoiding equal pay claims.
For example, a D Grade nurse was held to be of equal value to an electronics technician (Grade MTO 3). Yet health boards are now banding nurses only on Band 5 while placing the men on Band 6 or even Band 7.
So, the Agenda for Change banding system is effectively preserving the 'status quo' and a pay differential of £10,000 per year - even though the nurse has higher qualifications and much more day to day responsibility!
Action 4 Equality believes that the present pay structures are crazy - because they pay NHS tradesmen more than fully trained, highly qualified nurses and other health professionals.
And pay discrimination goes right to the top of the nursing grades - because every hospital tradesman has a foreman, the foreman has a supervisor and the supervisor has a manager - all the way up the line. With each level paying £4,000 - £5,000 more than the one below - this means that people looking after NHS property are being paid more than the staff caring for patients.
So, even senior nurses with years of additional specialist training are being paid less than junior managers who get paid £35,000 pa for looking after the hospital buildings. And what's worse is that these pay differences have been around for years - long after the introduction of the 1970 Equal Pay Act.
How crazy is that?
The reality is that the trade unions have become part of the NHS establishment - they are slow to support their members and are just meekly going along with out of date, discriminatory pay practices in the NHS and elsewhere.
Action 4 Equality says that the NHS priorities are all wrong. Change is long overdue and the best way to achieve change is by
- Appealing your Agenda for Change grade
- Pursuing an Equal Pay claim to the Employment Tribunals
With several years back pay nurses on E and F grades could have claims worth well over £30,000 - even more if you work shifts. Midwives are often given Band 7 under Agenda for Change, but with male comparators earning £10,000 more - these claims are worth over £50,000.
In the meantime, it's essential that nurses do not simply accept their low bandings under Agenda for Change. You should appeal and seek a review - especially nurses on Band 5.
Our message to nurses and other health professionals is simple:
Action 4 Equality - gets the job done
Agenda for Change - means more empty promises
If you need more detailed advice, contact Mark Irvine and Action 4 Equality on 0131 667 7956
