Key points of the 2018 pay deal

This page shows the key points at a glance from the framework agreement:

At a glance

• Three year deal covering 2018/19, 2019/20, and 2020/21.
• Covers all NHS employers in England (covered in Annex A of the terms and conditions of service handbook).

Pay

• Starting salaries increased across all pay bands.
• New pay structure with fewer pay points – overlapping pay points removed initially followed by further pay points.
• New system of pay progression.
• Top of pay bands to be increased by 6.5 per cent over the three years (apart from band 8d and 9 which will be capped at the increase of band 8c).
• Minimum rate of pay in the NHS to be set at £17,460 from 1 April 2018 – ahead of the Living Wage Foundation Living Wage rates.

Structural changes

• Band 1 to be closed to new starters from 1 December 2018. The NHS Staff Council to agree a process for this including upskilling band 1 jobs to band 2 roles during the 3 years of the pay deal.
• Bands 2 to 4 and 8 to 9 will only have two pay points in the new structure. Bands 5 to 7 will have three.
• Staff below band 8 will have the opportunity to reach the top of their pay band more quickly than under the current pay system.
• The time it takes for bands 8 to 9 to reach the top remains unchanged.
• Re-earnable pay remains for those staff that have reached the top of their pay band in bands 8c to 9

Other changes

• Terms and conditions amendments to:
  - include enhanced shared parental leave
  - child bereavement leave
  - a national framework on buying and selling leave.
• Unsocial hours payments while off sick to be paid only to existing staff earning at or below £18,160.
• Unsocial hours percentage rates for Band 1 – 3 to be adjusted in line with increases to basic pay.

Ambulance sector

• New entrant ambulance staff, and those changing jobs or moving roles internally or moving to a new employer, to be paid unsocial hours under Section 2 rather than Annex 5.
• Voluntary move to Section 2 terms will be offered to all existing ambulance staff.

Future NHS Staff Council work programme

• Programme of work to improve health and wellbeing to support better attendance levels and reduce sickness absence.
• To explore the alignment between Agenda for Change and other senior NHS pay arrangements.
• NHS Staff Council to negotiate provisions for apprenticeship pay as a matter of urgency.
• NHS Staff Council to undertake work on exploring the scope for a collective framework agreement on bank and agency working.
• Monitoring the impact of any deal.

NHS Pay Review Body

• NHS Pay Review Body retains its standing remit and will look at the progress of implementation and its impact.
• This monitoring role will also consider the future use and values of RRPs and High Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) payment.