Shropshire nurse calls for fairness for nursing bank staff in England after pay snub

Jen Handley has today urged people across Shropshire and beyond to sign a national petition which would see bank staff – temporary workers on zero-hour contracts – receive the same non-consolidated payments or ‘backlog bonus’ as their contracted colleagues.

It comes after an announcement was made on June 1 that more than one million NHS workers would receive a pay rise following an agreement between the Government and unions.

As part of the deal, eligible workers on the ‘Agenda for Change’ contract, would receive a pay rise of five per cent pay, worth at least £1,065, backdated to April.

They would also receive a ‘backlog bonus’ of at least £1,250, but the exact figure would be determined by their pay band.

NHS bank staff have been left out of the ‘backlog bonus’ element of the deal.

Ms Handley was a contracted nurse with the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust for 10 years and has been a bank nurse for the last five.

She has said bank staff should be entitled to the lump sum too and that members have been left feeling “undervalued” by the decision.

“We are pretty upset to be honest,” she said.

“We work long hours and to not be recognised along with contracted staff – and Wales and Scotland, their bank staff are getting it. This is across the whole country.

“As you can imagine this has angered bank staff who quite rightly feel undervalued by this.

“Annette Scannell has started a petition to try to get fair pay for bank staff, it needs 100,000 signatures before the Government will discuss it but it only has 21,700.”

Ms Handley went on to say that hospitals rely heavily on bank and agency staff to step in when needed, for example if there is staff illness.

She reiterated that bank staff worked through Covid along with their contracted colleagues, and that all they want is to be treated the same.

The online petition reads: “We want the Government to ensure that all NHS bank staff in England, who have worked tirelessly for the NHS under Agenda for Change but are not directly employed by NHS trusts, receive non-consolidated payments as part of the NHS pay deal.

“Because it is unfair that some NHS staff will receive one-off payments and others won’t when they do exactly the same jobs and worked through Covid, covering all areas of healthcare with dedication and flexibility.

“Scotland and Wales bank staff are set to receive these payments. We believe it is unacceptable that many of their English counterparts are not.”

Anyone can sign the petition, whether they work in the health sector or not.