Received from: RCM
Merged into composite 12
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.
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 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.
Royal College of Midwives
AMENDMENT
Add new paragraph after “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.”
Add new bullet points:
“iv. work to enable bank workers to participate fully in union structures” Add new bullet point v.:
“v. campaign to make the principles of the New Deal a reality for those on bank contracts”
UNISON