NHS Agenda for Change review: scope

Existing priorities from 2022 to 2023 pay settlement

The Scottish Government has committed to modernisation of the following priority areas:

Agreed as part of the 2022 to 2023 pay settlement:

1. A review of band 5 job nursing profiles
2. Protected learning time, and
3. Review to deliver a reduction in the working week

All sides accept that these priority areas will progress faster than other aspects of the review process. Those areas which have been agreed as part of the 2022 to 2023 pay settlement will be scoped out with a delivery plan by September 2023. These are:

1. Review of band 5 job profiles

All existing Band 5 nursing job profiles/ descriptions will be reviewed to determine if there are any inconsistencies in their application and if they still are fit for purpose. This will be undertaken in accordance with NHS Scotland job evaluation policy considering our equal pay obligations and responsibilities, and with a commitment to ensuring banding outcomes reflect current job content.

The review will be undertaken in partnership with a mandate and remit agreed by STAC, and will be conducted on a ‘Once for Scotland’ national basis to ensure consistency of any implementation of recommendations across all NHS boards in Scotland with any increased responsibility properly rewarded.

2. Protected learning time

A working group will be established to consider the learning time for professional groups of Agenda for Change (AfC) staff, and will be compliant with responsibilities as set out in the National Health Services (Scotland) Act 1978 at section 12II as revised through Section 4 of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019. This states:

“In complying with the duty imposed by section 12IA, every Health Board and the Agency must ensure that its employees receive - (a)such training as it considers appropriate and relevant for the purposes set out in section 12IA(1)(a) and (b), and (b)such time and resources as it considers adequate to undertake such training.”

Any recommendations made by this group will support the recruitment and retention of staff, their development and wellbeing, and have due regard to the need of health boards to manage the day-to-day deployment of staff in line with existing and future service provision responsibilities. Implementation of this review will require that the predicted absence allowance is reviewed and/or adjusted to reflect the impact at team level, ensuring adherence to agreed paid protected learning time for staff.

3. Working week

A working group will be established to explore the reduction of the hours in the working week, with the aim of getting to a 36 hour working week without the loss of earnings within an agreed timescale taking account of matters including, but not limited to, service provisions, safe staffing levels, staff wellbeing, and costs. Implementation of any recommendations will be costed, fully resourced and will be reflected in local NHS board workforce plans and set out in future NHS Scotland health and social care workforce plans.