Protocol for Payment of Unsocial Hours during Annual Leave and Annual Leave Entitlements for Bank Staff

General Note

NHS Fife acknowledges and agrees with the importance of regular and timely review of policy/procedure statements and aims to review policies within the timescales set out.

New policies/procedures will be subject to a review date of no more than 1 year from the date of first issue.

Reviewed policies/procedures will have a review date set that is relevant to the content (advised by the author) but will be no longer than 3 years.

If a policy/procedure is past its review date then the content will remain extant until such time as the policy/procedure review is complete and the new version published, or there are national policy or legislative changes.

Agenda for Change: TERMS AND CONDITIONS GUIDANCE

INTRODUCTION

Agenda for Change (AfC) calculates pay for all staff covered by the AfC agreement on the basis of full pay, not basic pay, during periods of annual leave.

This protocol outlines the mechanism to enable NHS Fife to make the appropriate unsocial hours payments to staff during periods of annual leave, in line with NHS Circulars PCS(AfC)2008/1 – Maintaining Round the Clock Services, PCS(AfC)2008/12 – Payment During Annual Leave and the FAQs associated with PCS(AfC)2008/12, and CEL(2011)15 – Payment During Annual Leave for Bank and Casual Workers (previously issued).

It also describes the entitlement to annual leave for “as and when required”, bank and casual staff, referred to hereafter as bank staff, who are also entitled to payment of unsocial hours during periods of annual leave.

Annex G of the AfC Terms & Conditions of Service Handbook provides additional guidance on managing work patterns.

DEFINITION OF FULL PAY DURING ANNUAL LEAVE

NHS Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions Handbook; Section 13, Paragraph 9, refers: “Pay during annual leave will include regularly paid supplements, including any recruitment and retention premia, payments for work outside normal working hours and high cost area supplements. Pay is calculated on the basis of what the individual would have received had he / she been at work. This would be based on the previous three months at work or any other reference period that may be locally agreed.

Staff should not earn more during periods of annual leave than they would normally when at work, eg, staff will not be entitled to weekend hours for hours / shifts not worked at the weekend, ie, single day off on annual leave mid week will only attract weekday enhancements.

Full pay needs to be inclusive of any statutory benefits (so as not to make sick pay greater than normal working pay). The combined addition of statutory sick pay and half pay must not exceed full pay.

ANNUAL LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS

Entitlements to annual leave are specified in Section 13 of the Agenda for Change: NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook.

As and when required and casual workers are only entitled to annual leave in line with the Working Time Directive. There is no entitlement to additional long service leave days, carry forward of annual leave or public holidays for bank workers.

SCENARIOS COVERED BY THIS PROTOCOL

For staff who work on a rota:

A rota is designed to roster an agreed group of staff to cover a work area e.g. a ward or department. The rota would not usually change and the member of staff would not usually change their place in it. Staff would know of and have agreed to the rota, and it would not be modified, for payment purposes after the period of annual leave had commenced.

• The unsocial hours the employee would have received, as per the rota, are returned to payroll in the usual format i.e. via SSTS or time sheets.
• For Annual Leave that occurs during the period covered by a written duty rota, the shifts the employee is rostered for are returned to payroll in the usual format i.e. via SSTS or time sheets.
• In the exceptional situation where a rota does not follow a repeating pattern as described above, the Reference period for calculating unsocial hours for annual leave is used (refer to Section 5 below).

For staff with No Duty rota:

• In very exceptional circumstances, if no duty rota has been made up for the employee, or the working arrangements are extremely variable, the “Reference period for calculating unsocial hours in annual leave” should be used (refer to Section 5 below). In the majority of areas within NHS Fife, duty rotas will be available.
• Only in these exceptional circumstances, if it is felt by the manager that the “reference period for calculating unsocial hours in annual leave” is not an accurate reflection of the working pattern for the employee, this should be discussed with the relevant Human Resources Officer / Manager and SSTS System Manager or Payroll Team Manager, prior to processing any payments via SSTS or timesheets.

As and When Required Casual and Bank Staff

• From 1 October 2008, as and when required, casual and bank workers are entitled to paid annual leave pro rata to the hours worked. This is pro-rata to 4.8 weeks from 1 October 2008 to 31 March 2009, then pro-rata to 5.6 weeks from 1 April 2009.
• All leave due to as and when required, casual and bank workers must be taken by 31 March each year and no carry forward of leave is permitted. Leave for as and required, casual and bank workers should be requested, recorded and authorised in line with departmental procedures. CoS016 provides additional advice on calculation of annual leave for bank workers.

REFERENCE PERIOD FOR CALCULATING UNSOCIAL HOURS FOR ANNUAL LEAVE

• Where it is unknown what an employee would have worked, an average will be calculated. The average will normally cover a 13 week reference period; although a longer period may be used if 13 weeks would not accurately reflect the rota worked. This should be discussed with the relevant HR Officer / Manager and Payroll, prior to any agreement being reached or payment processed via SSTS or timesheets.
• The average hours will be notified to Payroll via SSTS or timesheets, as if the member of staff were at work.
• Employees can request a copy of the reference period / details from their manager.

If you have any queries regarding the information required by Payroll, please contact the SSTS System Manager or the Payroll Team Manager (01592) 643355, extensions 28713, 28604 or 28598.