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October 2004
Key messages
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Agenda for Change Communications Toolkit
This toolkit has beendesigned to help NHScommunication leads to plan proactively for Agendafor Change.
What is Agenda for Change?Agenda for Change is a new pay systemfor all NHS staff apart from doctors,dentists and very senior managers. Its aimis to ensure fair pay and a clearer systemfor career progression. For the first timestaff will be paid on the basis of the jobsthey are doing and the skills andknowledge they apply to these jobs. TheDepartment of Health negotiated the paysystem with unions and it was agreed inNovember 2002.
Twelve NHS sites implemented thechanges early to help other NHSorganisations to adopt the new systemsuccessfully. Subject to the second ballots,the system will be rolled out to the rest ofthe NHS in December 2004.
Partnership working with trade unionshas been at the centre of Agenda forChange. This is also crucial incommunications planning.
Viewing tip: The toolkit has been produced in PDFformat and is designed to be used onscreen where you can click between thedifferent sections and link to other relatedmaterial on the web. For maximum clarity –go to the top of your Adobe Readerscreen, select the ‘window’ option andthen select ‘full screen view’ from the drop-down menu.
Printing tip: PDF is a printer-friendly format so you caneasily print the toolkit for reading off-line.
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■ Agenda for Change is a new pay system for all NHS staff apart from doctors, dentists andvery senior managers.
■ We have worked with unions, professional bodies and the NHS to ensure that Agenda forChange will bring about benefits to staff and patients.
■ For the first time it will ensure that all staff in the NHS will be paid on the basis of the jobsthey are doing and the skills they apply to these jobs rather than their job title.
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Agenda for Change bringsabout benefits for staff,patients and the NHS.Consider these messages to include in yourcommunications anddevelop local examples ofwhat these benefits will look like in your trust.
Patient benefits:■ Pay reform is a catalyst to developing newroles for staff that better meet the needs ofpatients. Helping ensure they get fastertreatment and a better patient experience.
■ Staff are encouraged to work flexibly tomeet the needs of patients. This will helpensure patients get better access to servicesat times that are convenient to them.
■ Pay reform encourages better team work,this will breakdown barriers and help ensurepatients get more consistent care.
■ Staff will have increased opportunities to adopt new roles – supporting qualifiedstaff. This may reduce the need for patientsto see several healthcare workers, providing patients with a more streamlinedcare pathway.
■ More highly skilled support staff will be available to speed up the treatment for patients.
■ The Knowledge and Skills frameworks will help staff develop their skills and training more easily, leading to directbenefits to patients.
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Staff benefits:■ The NHS minimum wage has beenincreased to £5.69 an hour (2004/2005 rates).
■ NHS staff will receive equal pay for workof equal value. The job evaluation scheme isdesigned to reward staff fairly by measuringtheir job related skills, knowledge andresponsibilities.
■ The Knowledge and Skills Framework willhelp staff develop their skills. It will improvelinks between eduction development andcareer progression to give staff betteropportunities to develop their career.
■ All staff will have dedicated time for appraisal and personal developmentplanning.
■ From 2003-2005, all staff will benefitfrom a 10 per cent pay deal over the three years.
■ Harmonisation of hours will mean all staffwill have a working week set at 37.5 hours.Staff working more than this will have animmediate reduction, staff working less willbe protected for 3 years.
■ The majority of staff will have moreannual leave. Leave entitlement will be thesame irrespective of grade on appointment.
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On appointment 27 days + 8 daysAfter 5 years service 29 days + 8 daysAfter 10 years service 33 days + 8 days
Annual leave/public holidays
Length of service
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NHS benefits■ Better recruitment and retention. Thesystem offers an attractive package and willhelp the NHS target non-traditional areas ofthe labour market.
■ Fair pay – it is a transparent and opensystem of reward, improving equalopportunities.
■ Better morale – improvements to annualleave and basic pay will contribute toimproved staff satisfaction. Agenda forChange also supports work-life balance andwill encourage employers to improve theworking lives of staff.
■ Improved partnership working – Agendafor Change encourages staff, includingmanagers to be actively involved inpartnership working with Trade Unions.
■ Agenda for Change challengesorganisation to breakdown traditional boundaries and encourages staff to work inteams, helping to encourage improvement,development and innovation.
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1 October 2004 All new terms and conditions come into effect, with the exception of new hoursof work conditions.
8 November 2004Results of Unison second ballot.
11 November 2004Amicus second ballot closes.
16 November 2004NHS staff Council meeting.
1 December 2004Subject to second ballots Agenda for Change is rolled out acrossthe NHS. New hours of work will takeeffect, including the protection arrangements in the agreement.
31 March 2005 Majority of staff to be matched to a new pay band.
30 September 2005All staff should be assimilated.
April 2006New harmonised arrangement for unsocialhours to be introduced.
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Early implemeter sites have produced avariety of materials to communicate withstaff, stakeholders, patients and the public.Click on the tools below and adapt themfor your use:
Communication plans■ West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust
■ Aintree Hospital NHS Trust
Staff handbooks■ West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust
■ Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust
Manager’s handbook■ Aintree Hospital NHS Trust
Staff bulletins & newsletters■ North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust
■ Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust
■ Aintree Hospital NHS Hospitals
■ West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust
Posters■ Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust
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New mediaYour intranet and web site are importantchannels, work-out how you can use theseeffectively to communicate with staff.
PresentationPlease note that these also have usefulspeaking notes. The presentation can bedownloaded by clicking here.
Post cardThe modernidation Agency have developed apostcard with key contact details for staff. Thiscan be downloaded from by clicking here.
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TemplatesWe have developed templates for you touse locally, you can drop in local text andinformation to communicate with yourtarget audiences. These can be found onNHS Commslink or click on the links below.
■ A4 newsletter
■ A5 leaflet
■ Powerpoint presentation
■ Post card
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A thoroughly modern Trust
Over the past year Aintree Hospitals NHSTrust has been involved in two AcceleratedDevelopment Programmes for fast-trackingthe introduction of role redesign inradiography and medical secretaries. It isalso an Early Implementer site for Agendafor Change. Patients seen and treatedwithin four hours in their A&E departmenthave increased from 88 to 95 per cent. staffturnover rates are down by from 12 to11per cent and patient waiting lists forradiology have reduced by up to 23 percent from 1,300 to 300.
The lesson from Aintree is that role redesignand Agenda for Change are complimentaryaspects of workforce modernisation andshould be implemented in an integratedway. Steve Weston, their general managerfor radiology cites the development of therole of assistant practitioners in radiology asan example. “We have been consideringthe role for some time and we had
employed a trainee but we didn’t knowwhat to pay them. Agenda for Changeplugged that gap.” More importantly,Agenda for Change also supported a fourtier structure for radiographers allowingSteve to start work on developing the roleof advanced practitioners with thepossibility of developing a consultant tier inthe future. “In the past, we would typicallyhave a 10per cent vacancy rate in thedepartment and at times we had to reduceworking to four days. We are now fullystaffed, and I’m hopeful that Agenda forChange will be the catalyst for furtherdevelopment of new roles and theimplementation of the four tier system forradiographers.”
Carol Sutton, HR manager at the Trust hasseen benefits in other parts of theorganisation. “We have developed newsupport roles for medical secretaries, therole of the catheter laboratory practitionerhas been created and we have expandedthe roles of maintenance department crafts
workers to help increase productivity.” ForCarol Agenda for Change and role redesignhas helped to sweep aside professionalbarriers enabling staff to reach their fullpotential. The transparency that Agendafor Change brings helps to raise morale andit enables support staff to feel valued.“Increases in salary for these support staffhas enabled them to get on the first rank ofthe property ladder for the first time, whichhas been hugely rewarding to witness.”
But it’s not all just about more money. LesleyWright has been a medical secretary at theTrust for the last seven years. “Until about ayear ago my work involved just answeringthe phones, typing and general adminwork. The workload seemed endless andmy consultant never seemed to stopworking. I felt powerless to do anythingabout it.” Following a ten month
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Accelerated Development Programme formedical secretaries, Lesley and hercolleagues have transformed themselvesand their roles. They have developed acadet scheme for junior secretaries that willrelease medical secretary time, enablingthem in turn to release a substantialamount of consultant time. The scheme hasworked so well, the Trust is now preparingto share its success in this area with otherparts of the local NHS. “I never thought Iwas capable of achieving so much,” saysLesley. “I used to be really quiet but now myconfidence has grown so much and I feelreally enthusiastic about coming into work.The whole experience has opened up doorsfor me which I never knew existed.”
Carmel Hughes who was the first assistantpractitioners in radiography at the Trustcouldn’t agree more. “Two years ago I wastold that it would take me at least two yearsto progress in my role. One year on, I’mdoing a brilliant hands on job which hasbroadened my horizons,” says Carmel.
“What’s more I get an extra six daysholidays a year and I have a couple ofincrements within Band 4 which means Ican work towards achieving a higher salaryin the future.”
Despite the obvious modernisation successat the Trust, unresolved issues remain,especially in relation to pay arrangements for on-call and out of hours. But Jo Rafferty,project director for Agenda for Change, isnot surprised that there are mixed viewsabout Agenda for Change. She believes that staff need to be realistic about the short term benefits because the real benefitsof the new pay system will become evidentin the longer term. “This is organisationaldevelopment on a massive scale,” says Jo.“No one should underestimate the workinvolved but neither should we lose sight of what Agenda for Change promises - a fair, explicit and transparent pay system that enables better careerdevelopment, addresses low pay andproperly rewards staff.”
But what has impressed Jo most is the wayworkforce modernisation, and Agenda forChange in particular, has challenged theorganisation to tackle issues head on andcreate the type of partnership working withstaff and their trade unions that will ensurelong term sustainable improvement.“Agenda for Change and workforcemodernisation cannot work withoutpartnership between management andstaff, between different professions. Itcannot be done any other way.”
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Personal Perspectives
West Kent NHS and Social Care Trustprovides specialist mental health, learningdisability and social care services. Theyprovide for all age groups in both inpatientand outpatient settings. The Trust has been implementing Agenda for Changesince 2003.
Director Director, Kevin Lindsay, is aware of the typeof issues that are challenging all directors ofmental health services. According to Kevin:“Our level of investment is not as high asdemand and recruiting nursing staff to ourinpatient units has been difficult.”
But, for Kevin Agenda for Change offerssolutions to some problems. “We arecurrently exploring how to use retentionand recruitment premia and redesigningstaff roles to help us fill recruitment gaps forour inpatient wards and other areas.” Kevinis also using Agenda for Change to broadenthe responsibilities of nursing staff working
in crisis resolution and in the community.This will provide a flexible 24/7 service asopposed to the typical Monday to Fridayapproach. Kevin is also looking to see howAgenda for Change could support changesto the role of the hospital-based consultantpsychiatrist.
Kevin says: “The thing that excites me themost is the possibilities offered by theKnowledge and Skills Framework (KSF). TheKSF will create a workforce that has theskills and attitude to provide a service builtaround the needs of patients. We havealways sought to achieve this, we now havethe opportunity.”
Staff representativeAnne Lynn is a Nursing Assistant and astaff-side representative at the Trust and hasrecently adopted the role of trust lead onthe KSF. She has spent the last 18 monthsdrafting job descriptions, providinginformation to staff, undertaking work onterms and conditions, participating in staff
road-shows and analysing job content andstaff skills. If she could it again, her greatestwish would be to have more time. “Nobodysaid implementing a new pay system wouldbe easy, but the workload is intense andtime consuming. I will never forget the daywe had over 100 job descriptions back tojob match again!”
But the advantages of Agenda for Changefar outweigh the challenges. “NursingAssistants like myself have had stagnantcareer prospects up till now. An NVQ 3would have taken us to B grade. Now wecan get on at Band 3, progress to Band 4and go on further.” According to Anne, job descriptions and Personal DevelopmentPlans are now live documents that arereviewed constantly.
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Benefits of Agenda for Change have alsobeen gained elsewhere. Anne says: “Thebudgetary responsibilities of managers havenow been recognised, and Estates staffhave benefited from recruitment andretention premia payments as well as moreannual leave. Estates have traditionally hadrecruitment difficulties because of the lureof the private sector, but they are now in abetter position to attract young people tothe NHS.”
Project ManagerFor Carmel Agenda for Change projectmanager, Agenda for Change has laid thefoundations for future partnership workinvolving any kind of change big or small.She says: “The decision making process isnow faster, the quality of staff suggestionshas improved and there is mutual respectand understanding between managementand union representatives.”
According to Carmel, Agenda for Changehas also been instrumental in acceleratingthe introduction of new roles in the Trust.
The Trust has recently appointed 14Graduate Primary Care Workers. Their roleis to act as a link between mental healthand primary care. “These workers arecoming from a new recruitment pool andthey can come from any degree discipline.Before Agenda for Change there wouldhave been wide variations in pay for theseposts, from clerical, nursing or social care.Now the role has been banded at 4 whichmeans harmonisation of terms andconditions and a more flexible recruitment pool.”
Harmonised and transparent terms andconditions are crucial to staff morale. TheTrust employs around 65 medical secretariesacross 280 different locations. Prior toAgenda for Change this staff group feltisolated and operated at different levels.Agenda for Change has supported thecreation of four clear levels of medicalsecretary and has brought this group ofstaff together to form a network. “Thebenefits to medical secretaries as individuals
and as a group will be tremendous,” says Carmel.
According to Carmel the Trust is nowentering the most exciting phase of thisprocess where benefits to staff and patients will be fully realised andpartnership working becomes mainstream.She is also looking forward to furtherconsolidating the work she has been doingacross sixteen organisations within thehealth economy. “As an early implementersite we have had responsibility for spreading the learning across our healthcommunity.” The Trust has alreadyorganised two stakeholder events and jobevaluation and KSF placements andnetworks have been established.
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The missing link to highperformance
HR Director at East Anglian AmbulanceNHS Trust Seamus Elliot says that, havinga transparent, fair and developmental paystructure will help staff to commit furtherto retain their three star performancerating. “With demand on services risingexponentially and with no equivalentincreases in resources, we cannot becomplacent. Staff need to absorb morework but they also require a pay systemthat recognises their efforts.”
Agenda for Change supportsmodernisation, which can help increaseproductivity. Seamus cites the example ofA&E where workload rose by 12 per centacross the year. At the same time the keyproductivity index (unit hour utilisation)exceeded Trust targets. “It is clearlypossible that the principles of Agenda for Change are improving morale and
adding value.” Although 95 per cent ofstaff are on the new pay system he insiststhat it is too early to see immediate benefits– some have only been on AFC contracts forone month. He says: “major change doesnot immediately lead to improvements; infact the reverse is true. Most organisationswitness dips in performance during times ofchange.” However, it is a fact that duringthe months of February and March 2004there were reductions in staff sickness levelswhich has been an issue at the Trust forsome time, and a factor which is oftenlinked to staff morale.
He points to other changes such as newworking patterns where staff are now beingrequired to work weekends and eveningswhen there are peaks in demand. “For thefirst time we now have a pay system whichrecognises that healthcare is a sector whichrequires a 24/7 mentality.” The Trust ispreparing the ground for further servicedevelopments. “New roles, such asEmergency Care Practitioners working in
Out-of-Hours, or Fleet Assistants are beingdeveloped. Agenda for Change gives us aclear and open way of assessing theappropriate pay package for them.” TheTrust has also introduced new workingarrangements to meet the reduction of theworking week from 40 to 37.5 hours andchanging meal breaks from being inclusivein the working week to being exclusive.Seamus says: “Changes are not withouttheir problems and we predicted that somemay cause problems with maintainingservice performance standards. But,interestingly, this has not happened.”
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This view is endorsed by Eric Miller, Unisonbranch secretary and trust staff side lead forAFC. Eric welcomes the introduction of newroles, not least because in some cases theyhave allowed colleagues who for personalreasons are no longer able to undertakeoperational roles to continue to work in theservice. However, not all of the changesintroduced by AFC have beenstraightforward. There are some issues thatstill need to be resolved, for example, thebanding of ambulance technicians.
Staff-side and management relations havealso improved. Eric says that ownership andinvolvement has been increased becausefirstly AFC was developed in partnershipnationally, and secondly that staff in thetrust were fully involved in the decision tobecome an Early Implementer site. Thisdemocratic process is a far cry from themore confrontational approach to gainingimprovements to pay and conditions thatemergency services have felt they had littleoption but to adopt in the past. Yet it has in
his opinion delivered considerableimprovements in overall pay and workingconditions for the majority of staff in thetrust, and helped them develop a solidfoundation for further partnership workingin the future.
Seamus refers to this as the win-winphilosophy of Agenda for Change - a newopen and fair system that has to bedeveloped jointly between managementand staff. This places staffside (andmanagement) in new positions, which areunfamiliar, and he sees his role, as HRDirector, as facilitating and supportingpeople through the process. This newapproach also requires totally different waysof making decisions together.
But for Seamus the “hidden jewel in thecrown” is the KSF system. “Just imaginewhat we can achieve if we can improveeveryone’s performance by just 5 per centeach year.” For Seamus, the KSF presents aunique opportunity to achieve this through
the systematic development of staff talent,skills and experience. However, he warnsthat the KSF needs, time, resource andexperience to get it right. “It will take timeto get the confidence to do it well and therewill be big demands for staff developmentthat will be challenging for managers.” Sohis advice is to do it ‘slow and steady, startsmall and build on its inevitable success.’
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View from a NursingDirector
According to Patrick McKee, NursingDirector at Avon and Wiltshire MentalHealth Trust (AWP), the future of mentalhealth nursing in the NHS lies in roleredesign, and Agenda for Change is theenabling tool to make it happen.
The figures speak for themselves.According to Patrick, the Trust will need torecruit a total of 450 additional nurses overthe next three years to achieve the Trust’sexpansion program which includes a majorPFI initiative. The Trust also have concernsabout the ageing profile of nurses, whichwas highlighted in the RCN membershipsurvey (2003).
The Trust has adopted three strategies todeal with this issue. The long-term solutionis to dramatically increase the number ofRegistered Mental Nurses (RMNs) in training
over the next three years with a view toincreasing the internal supply by the end of2008. To address immediate needs, theTrust has developed a new inpatient role,the Associate Practitioner for inpatients, toprovide an intermediate level worker whowill offer direct support for qualified RMNs.Finally, the Trust has worked to strengthenthe NVQ structure to provide futurecandidates for these roles and to supportthe development of the Community MentalHealth Worker.
So far the Trust has employed 30Community Mental Health Workers (MHW).Their role is to undertake the tasks of anassociate care co-ordinator, supportingpeople with severe and enduring mentalhealth needs. This course is underpinned bythe certificate in mental health withsuccessful candidates being encouraged tofurther develop their skills via a variety ofCPD programmes geared towards the skillsset required as outlined by the KSF process.Following completion of the certificate in
mental health, the trust anticipate thatthese community mental health workers willbe in a position to work moreautonomously in supporting service users.“We piloted this role in Bristol and we had300 expressions of interest and 150applicants. With no rigid boundariesagainst entry point to the post, we knowthere is a natural recruitment market for thisrole within the local area," says Patrick.“Agenda for Change banding has providedus with much more flexibility to design thistype of role, whereas the old nursing gradescreated a rather rigid system which did notreflect the needs of the service or theavailable skill mix in the local community.”
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Similarly, Agenda for Change has providedthe right structure for the development ofthe Associate Practitioner (inpatient) role.Around 20 were recruited in the first wavein June and are currently undertaking 18months of training. They take a part-timecourse that takes part of the first year of theRMN course and selected parts of thesecond and third years. This will allow themgateways into various roles in the futureincluding nurse registration. The staff workat an intermediate level where they plan,implement and evaluate patient care. Theywill administer medication and undertakeassessments within certain protocols. Theywill support RMNs in an inpatient area byproviding direct care to service users,supervising more junior staff and carryingout other delegated functions.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg for us”says Patrick. “ We have multiple new rolesspringing up including AdvancedPractitioners at Salisbury where we aretraining four nurses to undertake work
traditionally done by junior doctors, helpingus with compliance issues around theWorking Time Directive.”
According to Patrick the development ofthese new roles does not only have thepotential to “break the control ofrecruitment agencies” but also enables theTrust to fill vacancies. The potentialbenefits to patient care have yet to bequantified, but Patrick believes moretrained local staff, providing direct patientcare will improve not only the quantity ofcare delivered but also the quality. “Thisnew breed of workers will provide morepatient interaction and care, and it willrelease nurses to carry out work whichthey have been trained to do. It’s a win,win situation for everyone, and I cannotenvisage how these innovations in skill mixcould have been achieved without theflexible and developmental approach ofAgenda for Change.”
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The project manager’s view
Assimilating 8,680 staff across two hospitalsites in just 12 months has not been a pieceof cake but according to Ted Angell, projectmanager at Guy’s & St Thomas’,implementing Agenda for Change isachievable if you apply the four P formulaused at the Trust - namely planning,process, preparation and partnership.
According to Ted, Agenda for Changeforces organisations to “dig up the drains”and look at processes and procedures in anew light. He cannot overstate theimportance of planning and advises anyoneembarking on implementation to investtime in mapping the organisation andengaging professional heads and others inthe debate about how “we want theorganisation to look in the future.” Hebelieves that Agenda for Change presentsthe biggest organisational developmentopportunity for healthcare. “Going throughthe process has been a real eye opener for
us. It has highlighted how bad we are atplanning, how reactive we have become, ithas set people’s minds in motion about howwe develop, recruit and retain staff.Essentially, we set in train fundamentalchanges to the way we work which willimprove every aspect of what we deliver.”
He cites the newly found partnershipbetween staff and management as anexample of some of the benefitsexperienced so far. “We have madesignificant progress in this area and we arenow having discussions about how thispartnership could be harnessed in thefuture to achieve benefits for staff andpatients alike.”
Ted also believes that the process hasenabled staff to develop their skills. “Thechallenges, the team work and the sheerlevel of work involved has helped to bindthe organisation and has helped us gain agreat deal on knowledge about how toimplement the new pay system
Agenda for Change has also provided theTrust with a robust system of job evaluationand matching and has enabled centralisedand comprehensive database systems to bedeveloped which can be used in the futurefor workforce planning purposes, datacollection, budgeting and HR systems. “Ihave been at the Trust since 1992 and this isthe first time we have systematicallymapped our staff profile. This will make areal difference to the HR and Financedepartments in the future. Agenda forChange has been the catalyst for this andother Trusts will be missing a trick if theydon’t use the implementation process toestablish similar systems.”
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But the Trust hasn’t simply used Agendafor Change to understand the current jobsof staff it has also used the process toredesign staff roles. “London is a very hardrecruitment market for the NHS,” explainsTed. “Medical secretaries employed at theTrust are a stones throw from the Citywhere secretaries can demand high salariesand enviable packages. Competition istough there but also across mostspecialities.” Ted maintains that althoughAgenda for Change will not reverse thistrend it will certainly provide ways inhelping to alleviate some of the difficulties.“We are developing approaches formedical secretaries who have long beenthe unsung heroes of healthcare. Band 4level posts will help to provide medicalsecretaries with the developmentopportunity and the commensurate salarythat will help build the morale and skills ofthis group of staff.”
Ted is also looking to the recruitment andretention premia to address salary issues in
London. However, he warns that this maycause competition between London’sTrusts and so Trust process has beendeveloped that ensures that consultationon a pan London basis. Another issue,which is been discussed, is the delivery ofout of hours pathology services. Again,Ted points to Agenda for Changeproviding a key contribution to this review.
However, Ted concedes that Agenda forChange has also caused some ‘agitation’.The transfer process, London weighting,work outside normal hours are just someof the areas which have ‘tested’ Agendafor Change, but Ted is hopeful that giventime the benefits to staff and patients willbe evident for all to see. “There is nodoubt in my mind that implementing thenew pay system has been a challenge.However, we have had the advantage ofworking early within the system, we havedeveloped strategies to deal with issuesand we have been able to influence thedevelopment of a pay system which is fair,
transparent and developmental. In thatrespect we have much to celebrate. “
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What is Agenda for Change?Agenda for Change is a new pay systemthat will ensure fair pay and a clearerpathway for career progression. For thefirst time staff will be paid on the basis ofthe jobs they are doing and the skills andknowledge they apply to these posts.
Who does Agenda for changeaffect?Agenda for Change effects every NHSemployee with the exception of doctors,dentists and very senior managers
What is job evaluation?Job evaluation is the process that assesseswhich pay band a job should fit into. Jobsare evaluated using 16 factors theoutcomes of which determines which payband a job should be placed in.
How is a job evaluated?There are four steps :■ Step 1 – Review the job descriptionThe job description is reviewed by thepost-holder and manager to ensure it isup-to-date and accurately reflects the rolesand responsibilities of the post.
■ Step 2 – Sign off the job descriptionOnce a job description has been agreedthe manager will send it to the jobevaluation administer who will confirmthat it is accurate and up-to date beforeforwarding it on.
■ Step 3 – Evaluate the job descriptionA job evaluation panel will seek to matchthe job description to one of the nationalprofiles. For posts that do not match anational profile or where there is nonational profile the post is evaluatedagainst 16 job factors. In this instance thepost-holder is required to complete a jobanalysis providing examples of the types oftasks and responsibilities undertaken.
Two job analysts – one manager and onetrade union representative – are assignedto support the post-holder with thecompletion of the form and to ensure thatthe detail provided is sufficient for theevaluation panel to make a decision.
■ Step 4 – The new pay bandOnce the post has been evaluated thepost-holder will be informed of the theirnew Agenda for Change terms andconditions.
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What is the NHS Knowledge andSkills Framework (KSF)?The KSF is a document that outlines thenecessary skills and knowledge requiredfor each post. This recognises that we allneed support and development to ensurewe are able to carry out our jobconfidently and efficiently. Each post isreviewed using 6 core and up to 24specific national dimensions.
The KSF will support the annual appraisaland performance review, which in turnsupports career planning and personaldevelopment.
The KSF will help staff develop their skillsto the full. It will ensure better linksbetween education, development andcareer and pay progression.
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A4C – Agenda for Change
AfC – Agenda for Change.
BPF – Best Practice Facilitators (aka BPT BestPractice Team).
COLS – Cost of Living Supplement.
Dimensions – Elements that make up ajob. There are six ‘core dimensions’ in theKnowledge and Skills Framework that applyto every job and a further 24 that arespecific.
EI – Early Implementer (There are 12 EIsites).
Factors – Each job will be evaluated on 16factors. A score is given to each factor andthe total numbr of points out of all 16factors will determine which pay band thejob will be assimilated into.
JD – Job Description.
JE – Job Evaluation is the process whichweighs jobs using factors and determineswhich pay band a job should be placed in.
JEWP – Job Evaluation Working Party.
KSF – Knowledge and Skills Framework.
KSFDG – Knowledge and Skills FrameworkDevelopment Group
MA – Modernisation Agency.
Matching Panel – Trained teams ofmanagement and staff side representativeswho will examine a post to see if it‘matches’ one of the national job profiles.National Job – Nationally agreed jobdescriptions for common NHS jobs.Profiles
Pay Bands – There are nine pay bands inAgenda for Change.
Pay Points – In each pay band there is apay scale which contains a number of paypoints.
PDP – Personal Development Plan.
PMU – Pay Modernisation Unit(Modernisation Agency).
RRP – Recruitment and Retention Premia.
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National contact■ Modernisation Agency website regardingthe Early Implementer sites –www.modern.nhs.uk/agendaforchange
■ The Department of Health Agenda forChange web pages for pay policy issues:www.dh.gov.uk/policyandguidance/humanresourcesandtraining/modernisingpay/agendaforchange
■ NHS Employers –www.nhsemployers.org
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West Kent NHS and Social Care trustName: Simon MorganTelephone: 01732 520 441Email: [email protected]: www.wknhssct.nhs.uk
Herefordshire Primary Care TrustName: Julie ThornbyTelephone:01432 344 344Email: [email protected]
Aintree Hospitals NHS TrustName: John Wood (management side) &Roz Cheetham (staff side)Telephone: John Wood 0151 529 2302 orRoz Cheetham 0151 529 2091Email: [email protected] [email protected]
Avon & Wiltshire Mental HealthPartnership NHS TrustName: Janine DaveyTelephone: 07899 988 249Email: [email protected]: www.awp.nhs.uk
Papworth Hospital NHS TrustName: Jacqueline LaddsTelephone: 01480 364 657Email: [email protected]: www.papworth-hospital.org.uk
Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital TrustName: Kate Oake & Matthew AkidTelephone: 020 7188 5577Email: [email protected] [email protected]: www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/page2451.htm
East Anglian Ambulance Service NHS TrustName: Matthew WareTelephone: 01603 422 729Email: [email protected]
North East Ambulance Service NHS TrustName: Kris GreyTelephone: 0191 226 4209Email: [email protected]
City Hospitals Sunderland NHS TrustName: Alison GrimesTelephone: 0191 565 6256 ext 42601Email: [email protected]
South West London & St GeorgesMental Health NHS TrustName: Hazel McElligottTelephone: 020 8682 6502Email: [email protected]
Central Cheshire Primary Care TrustName: Stephanie TewTelephone:Email: [email protected]
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Early implementer site communication leads contact details
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Communicatingthe message
SHA and Workforce Development Agenda for Change contacts:
SHA/WDC Contact E-mail■ Avon, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire Judy Saunders [email protected]■ Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Sarah Childerstone [email protected]■ Birmingham & The Black Country Pete Smith [email protected]■ Cheshire & Merseyside SHA Jo Rafferty [email protected]■ County Durham & Tees Valley Neil Stevenson [email protected]■ Cumbria & Lancashire SHA Andrea Willimott [email protected]■ Dorset & Somerset Barry Brown [email protected]■ Essex Neil Sellen [email protected]■ Greater Manchester Julie Cheetham [email protected]■ Hampshire & Isle of White Cheryl Day [email protected]■ Kent & Medway Carmel Martin [email protected]■ Leics, Northants & Rutland Emma Stevens [email protected]■ Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridge Gary Theobald [email protected]■ North Central London Nic Greenfield [email protected]■ North East London Louise Dokkari [email protected]■ North East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Adam Wardle [email protected]■ North West London Collen Sherlock [email protected]■ Northumberland, Tyne & Wear Janice McDonough [email protected]■ Shropshire & Staffordshire Robert Bott [email protected]■ South East London Annie Brough [email protected]■ South West London Phil Blazeby [email protected]■ South Yorkshire Rebecca Smith [email protected]■ Special Health Authorities Mike Siswick [email protected]■ Surrey & Sussex Jonathan Davis [email protected]■ SW Peninsula (Devon & Cornwall) David Millar [email protected]■ Thames Valley SHA Shelley Dowd [email protected]■ Trent SHA Alastair Forsyth [email protected]■ West Midlands South SHA Jan Draper [email protected]■ West Yorkshire SHA Jacky Doyle [email protected] Page 3 of 4
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Royal College of Nursingwww.rcn.org.uk/agendaforchange
UNISONwww.unison.org.uk/healthcare/a4c/index.asp
Amicus www.amicustheunion.org
Royal College of Midwiveswww.rcm.org.uk/data/membership/data/jobs_agenda_change.htmCommunicating
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National contacts Early implementer sites SHA & WDC contacts Stakeholder websites
The links below are to key stakeholder websites, they have useful information about Agenda for Change.
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We have a communications strategyand action plan
We have identified a communicationslead for Agenda for Change
We know who our Agenda forChange lead is
Our Agenda for Change lead isinvolved in our communications plan
We have an identified spokespersonon Agenda for Change who is mediatrained
We are working effectively with staffside representatives
We have planned our activity withstaff side to ensure that messages tostaff are consistent
Our SHA is aware of our Agenda forChange communications plan
Our CEO and other senior managersare aware of our communicationsplan and are taking an active role incommunicating face-to-face with staff
We have developed case studiesabout how Agenda for Change willimpact on staff locally
We have considered issues aboutequality and the formats in which weprovide information to staff
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In conjunction with communication leads we have developed a checklist of things to have in place to helpensure your communications activity on Agenda for Change runs as smoothly as possible.
Checklist
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