problems getting pay rise in NHS

dannyjebb

Hi all, my other half has worked in the NHS for the last 2 n a bit years as a health care assisstant and in Dec 2009 finished her training portfolio and handed it in and should have got a pay rise to the salary of a normal HCA but still hasnt got it 14 months on, every payday she asks the sister on the ward what is going on and she says she forgot and will speak to payroll and sort it out. Her portfolio was lost by the sister on the ward but she confirms she saw it and everything was done and complete. She has now gone directly to HR to get it sorted out but my question is, is she entitled to get back pay from the last 14 months. It equates to over a 1000 quid. The sister has said she saw it was complete in Dec 2009 and so there is no dispute that she finished it. Just wondering with the way the NHS is at the moment whether she has a legal right to backpay or not?

Many thanks

bap98189

After 14 months she shouldn't be relying on the sister, who clearly hasn't got a clue or the motivation to find out who does or chase it up.

She should speak directly to HR. I would suggest she goes over there and finds out who she needs to talk to to get it resolved. I would have thought she has an argument for the backpay, but the HR people will be better placed to answer that.

clairec79

Why hasn't she rung payroll herself? Ring find out what needs to be sent, get a name and fax number and then get the sister to fax it over (and ring and check it got there) - I ended up with one piece of paper supposedly going back and forth for several months, but when I did that I got the payrise effective from that month and then the backdated part in the next month

FBaby

In our Trust, HR consider that a claim is effective from the moment they receive the written request from the manager. We have had two cases when the manager didn't do what they were supposed to until months later. HR tried to argue that backpay would only start from the moment they were notified, but after the involvement from the Director, they agreed to backdate it to the moment the staff was told her upgrade was effective AND she officially started her new responsibilities. She had written evidence from notes of a meeting. Your partner might have a fight on her hand and need the support of her manager as to why it wasn't done earlier.

sho_me_da_money

As if the NHS staff weren't paid enough as it is for a p**s poor job.

Person_one

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

As if the NHS staff weren't paid enough as it is for a p**s poor job.

New HCAs in my trust get minimum wage.

They don't pay you the actual HCA wage until you've completed a pointless 'qualification' where you merely keep a record of everything you're doing day to day.

After your managers have dragged out this process for as long as they possibly can you get a pay rise of about 2K and continue doing exactly the same job you've probably been doing for a couple of years by now but are suddenly qualified for.

Why do you think so many trusts are keen to replace nurses with HCAs?

dannyjebb

that the thing she had to do. Keep a log of al the tasks she did and then once she had finished them all (dec 2009) she handed her portfolio in to the sister and waited for her raise. Never got anything and the sister said she had seen it was all in order but then it never got sent and then they moved wards for some reason and her portfolio was lost somewhere. She has spoke to the sister pretty much every month and now has got fed up with it all and went to personel yesterday and they contacted the HR manager. So I am guessing it will get sorted now but I think its out of order that she is going to be about £900 down. I just wondered if she is legally entitled to backpay even though the sister never sent it off but she said she will tell payroll/HR that her portfolio was finished in Dec 2009. I guess we will ust have to wait and see

Thanks for the answers

SHIPSHAPE

Hope it works out for your partner.

As an aside, I would glady welcome a rise in my income tax to give a pay rise for the wonderful NHS staff.

SandP_2

Regardless of what you think of the NHS in general HCAs receive a low rate of pay for the work that they do. Work that the majority of us would not want to do.

Sho_me_da_money - sorry there was a problem with your sentence structure earlier. It's not that HCAs do a p*ss poor job, it's just that part of their job may well be p*ss pouring - would you do it??

Mrs_Ryan

I'm a bit confused by this - I'm an HCA and I started on a certain wage which goes up an increment every year I've been there, its not dependent on training or anything, just length of service. I've worked nearly 2 and a half years and have had 2 pay rises.
What band is she being paid at? Should she have had her banding increased after handing this portfolio in or is it the case that she has been started on a basic wage and was told it would increase after completing training?

Person_one

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

I'm a bit confused by this - I'm an HCA and I started on a certain wage which goes up an increment every year I've been there, its not dependent on training or anything, just length of service. I've worked nearly 2 and a half years and have had 2 pay rises.
What band is she being paid at? Should she have had her banding increased after handing this portfolio in or is it the case that she has been started on a basic wage and was told it would increase after completing training?

It sounds like the OPs trust uses the same system as mine.

HCAs start out at a 'percentage' of a band 2 salary which is actually NMW. On completion of the portfolio, they are deemed to be 'trained' and their salary is brought up to the actual band 2 level.

Any actual 'training' needed for the job is done haphazardly in the first few weeks but mostly they are left to figure everything out on their own.

Its a bit poor really. The HCAs have usually been doing their job exactly as intended for 18 months or more by the time they get the actual salary it was advertised at.