Comprising Motion 52 and amendment and Motion 53
More and more NHS employers are using staff on bank contracts to plug in the gaps created by staff shortages. Insights show that the flexibility of bank contracts has been attractive for workers who may not be able to get flexible working in permanent employment with the NHS.
But this flexibility comes at a cost. There is no obligation for employers to provide work and the pay and terms and conditions for those on bank contracts doesn’t necessarily match those on substantive employment contracts with the NHS. Pay rises awarded to NHS Agenda for Change employees do not automatically apply to bank staff. Staff on bank contracts don’t get the same opportunity to access training and development as their colleagues directly employed by the NHS.
Bank contracts are effectively zero-hours contracts.
Congress recognises that the NHS is currently facing a crisis, with shortages of staff, including dietitians, impacting the quality of care and resulting in a workforce that feels undervalued and overstretched. Fair pay for NHS staff is crucial to address these challenges, ensure safe staffing levels, and provide high-quality patient care.
Congress notes that investing in the NHS workforce can lead to significant economic returns, with every £1 invested generating £4 in wider economic benefit.
A recent RCM poll of members revealed that midwives across England, Scotland and Wales work 136,000 extra unpaid hours a week to keep services running safely.
Extensive use of bank staff is not a sustainable and efficient way of managing staff shortages in the NHS in the medium and long term. Congress notes that workers with protected characteristics or caring responsibilities are more likely to be working on insecure and inferior bank contracts.
Congress calls on the TUC to:
i. support health unions to negotiate pay and terms and condition for bank staff across the NHS
ii. campaign to make flexible working the default in every NHS trust across the country
iii. campaign for fair pay for extra hours worked in the NHS.
iv. work to enable bank workers to participate fully in union structures
v. campaign to make the principles of the New Deal a reality for those on bank contracts
Congress is concerned that:
a. NHS staff vacancies remain high at over 100,000 in England alone
b. public sector wage growth lags behind the private sector, with NHS pay falling significantly in real terms
c. cost of living increases have eroded recent pay rises, hitting the lowest-paid staff hardest
d. 44.8 per cent of NHS staff reported feeling unwell due to work-related stress in 2022
e. the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan relies on ambitious assumptions around productivity, retention, and recruitment, but lacks a serious pay strategy.
Congress calls on the TUC to work with NHS unions to ensure that the government:
1. implements an above-inflation pay rise for all NHS staff in 2024/25 as a first step to addressing real-terms pay decline
2. allocates specific funding to unblock pay barriers to career progression
3. commits to a clear timeline for restoring NHS pay to competitive levels
4. rejects divisive proposals for a separate pay spine for nurses and improve Agenda for Change to benefit all staff equitably, instead.
Mover: Royal College of Midwives
Seconder: British Dietetic Association
Supporter: UNISON