Does your pay band match your competency and responsibilities?
Posted 07 August 2023 - 07:00
NHS Pay Review Body calls for review on nurse bandings to be completed swiftly, while RCN agrees it ‘must be addressed or there is a risk that staff will leave the profession’
Many nurses are working at pay bands that fail to match their competency and responsibilities, hindering their career development and job satisfaction, a nursing leader has warned.
The RCN said re-banding is a key piece of its Fair Pay for Nursing campaign, adding that without effective job evaluation systems the NHS risks losing more nurses.
The warning comes as the NHS Pay Review Body (RB), in its annual report on pay and working conditions, called for an NHS Staff Council review on nursing and midwifery bandings to be completed as soon as possible.
‘Employers allow staffing levels to remain dangerously low’
RCN director for England Patricia Marquis said NHS employers are not fulfilling their duty on job evaluations.
‘By relying on the goodwill of their staff and denying them fair banding, employers hold careers back and allow staffing levels to remain dangerously low,’ she told Nursing Standard.
‘Members are working at pay bands that fail to match the level of competency, responsibility, accountability and autonomy expected of them.’
Ms Marquis added that re-banding would unlock fair pay for many nursing professionals and help recruit and retain staff.
‘This must be addressed or there is a risk that staff, already dissatisfied with the recent pay deal, will leave the profession,’ she said.
Review looks at effectiveness of bandings
An NHS Staff Council review of nursing and midwifery job profiles is under way and is expected to be completed in October 2024. It forms part of the NHS Agenda for Change job evaluation scheme.
The review, prompted by calls from the RCN, aims to gather evidence and data on nursing roles from band 4 and above on current education, qualifications, training and development requirements within the profession. It aims to ensure bandings reflect current nursing and midwifery practice and are fit for purpose in all health and care settings.
There needs to be ‘an appetite to invest in job design and pay’
But the NHS RB has said it is concerned about the length of time being taken to complete the review. It called for the review to be completed ‘as soon as feasibly possible’ in its 2022 and 2023 annual reports.
It urged the NHS Staff Council to promptly complete the review and budget any funding to implement their findings in the 2024-25 financial year, meaning the review must be completed by April 2024.
‘All parties have set out an appetite to invest in job evaluation expertise at a local level, and it will be important that there is also an appetite to invest in job design and in pay where a job weight has changed,’ the RB report said.
NHS Employers director of employment relations and reward Paul Wallace said the NHS job evaluation group expects to consult on bands 4-7 by the end of this calendar year, and NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care are being updated on progress.
‘Reviewing profiles does not change the job weight of the pay bands. However, in revising the wording in the profiles it may become apparent to employers they have some staff where further local assessment of the correct pay band will be needed, which will take into account the duties and responsibilities of the posts they have’ he added.
Call for more funding for job evaluation systems
An evidence report from the NHS Staff Council’s job evaluation group on the work undertaken so far suggests a lack of investment by employers towards maintaining job evaluation systems. It suggests a national review of how job evaluations are applied would help ensure professionals are properly recognised in their roles.
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