NHS Royal Wedding Pay
Monday 28th February 2011
GMB MEMBERS IN NHS IN ENGLAND NOT HAPPY THAT STAFF
WORKING ON ROYAL WEDDING PUBLIC HOLIDAY WILL NOT RECEIVE ENHANCED
PAY
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and many NHS Trusts are
already paying up in full but it seems the NHS employers in England
want to spoil the great day by having hospital staff in on the
cheap says GMB
Rehana Azam GMB National Officer for NHS members responded to
the NHS employers statement on refusing to pay enhanced rates to
staff working on the Royal Wedding day. See notes to Editors for
text of statement.
Rehana Azam GMB National Officer said “GMB’s 30,000
health service members in England will be disgusted that the NHS
employers will not treat the Royal Wedding day as a public holiday
for calculating the pay of the staff who have to keep our NHS
running when most people will be enjoying the
celebrations.
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and many NHS Trusts
are already paying up in full but it seems the NHS employers in
England want to spoil the great day by having hospital staff in on
the cheap.”
End
Contact: Rehana Azam 07841 181 656 or GMB press
office 07974 251 823 or 07821 289880
Notes to Editors:
Text of NHS Press Release for England 25 February
2011
Employers in NHS seek fair deal on Royal
Wedding holiday
Responding to the rejection by almost all health unions of the
proposal for NHS staff who work on the day of the Royal Wedding, a
spokesperson for NHS Employers, said:
"Employers recognise that staff will want to celebrate the Royal
Wedding and this proposal means many of them will be able to have
paid time off on the day of the wedding. Those staff that will need
to work to care for patients on the day will be able to take a paid
day off at a later time.
“The NHS is facing a very challenging financial climate and
employers are looking for arrangements which help them meet that
challenge while also protecting jobs and continuity of services for
patients. In that light, the NHS Employers organisation is
disappointed that almost all the health trade unions have not
accepted this fair proposal for the Royal Wedding bank holiday. We
acknowledge that doctors, through the BMA, have accepted this
proposal and we welcome their support.
“The inability to reach agreement on this issue means individual
NHS organisations will now have to decide pay rates for the bank
holiday at local level, and trade unions will need to enter into
local pay bargaining.”
ENDS
Notes for editors:
·
“The cost to the NHS of the unexpected bank holiday is £200
million. If staff are paid enhanced rates, this rises to £230
million.
·
A typical NHS employee with more than ten years service is
entitled to 41days annual leave each year. This proposal means they
would be entitled to 42 days leave.
·
A typical NHS employee with between five and ten years service
is entitled to 37 days leave. This proposal means they would be
entitled to 38 days leave.
·
An experienced nurse, on Agenda for Change band 6, working a
regular shift pattern in A&E can earn between £38-40,000 per
annum.
·
NHS Employers represents trusts in England on workforce issues
and helps
to ensure that the NHS is a place where people want to work. See
http://www.nhsemployers.org/for
more information.
Contact details:
If you have a media enquiry, please contact the press
office:
Mike Foster
020 7074 3308 or mike.foster@nhsemployers.org.
For out of hours media enquiries, please contact the duty press
officer on 07880 500 726.
Catriona Richardson
Senior External Relations Manager
DDI: 020 7074 3307
http://www.nhsemployers.org/