NHS redundancy question

annhan

Hi

I have a close family member who has almost 16 years of work under their belt, redundancy rumours have become louder by the day at their workplace and i was wondering if i could ask for some facts, as management are saying nothing.

1. Redundancy payments, i understand under MARS it is 2 weeks of every year, which when totalled is not that much. If the voluntary redundancy's are not met, will forced redundancy's be actioned with the 1 month per year rule, or are we dreaming?

2. Has the government issued a table or list of when areas in the UK will be hit?

3. Will employees be offered early retirement instead?

Thanks for your time

Ann

SarEl

There is no longer such a beast as "the NHS" in the terms that you mean. It has been split up into trusts etc., and many (most) of them have developed their own policies and structures to deal with HR. Whilst some things are held in common, redundancy policies tend to vary wildly. So it is impossible to say what your terms will be.

There is no hit list - unless you call it "the public sector". The government has not said anyone has to make redundancies - they have simply set savings targets which make it impossible to save money in any other way.

You can certainly ask management, but even if they know they are unlikely to tell you until they are ready to make a formal announcement. Especially if they have not yet told the unions.

Spirit_2

SarEl wrote: »

There is no longer such a beast as "the NHS" in the terms that you mean. It has been split up into trusts etc., and many (most) of them have developed their own policies and structures to deal with HR. Whilst some things are held in common, redundancy policies tend to vary wildly. So it is impossible to say what your terms will be.

There is no hit list - unless you call it "the public sector". The government has not said anyone has to make redundancies - they have simply set savings targets which make it impossible to save money in any other way.

You can certainly ask management, but even if they know they are unlikely to tell you until they are ready to make a formal announcement. Especially if they have not yet told the unions.

Since 2004 Staff on Agenda for Change have national terms and conditions which include redundancy at a very generous 1 month per year. This rate is so generous that most NHS employers cannot afford to use it and endeavour to redeploy. The role your relative holds will be crucial in determining if there are suitable alternatives.The recent MARS schemes are an attempt to limit the cost through mutually agreed resignations instead. Retirement only kicks in if you are over minimum retirement age and made redundant - the most expensive option for the employer and consequently the least attractive for them to choose.

No hit lists, just the consequences of NHS reforms on commissioning and regional management.

annhan

Thank you for the replies, ill pass the information on.

onelifeleft

Spirit is right. You'll get a months redundancy per completed year of service plus notice. I think what SarEl is referring to is individual organisations different policies regarding the process itself. e.g. selection process, approach to redeployment, retraining etc.

Seems a good deal, but most people I know would rather stay in work. Good luck to your family member.

ovoreo

Seriously? A4C gives you a months pay (uncapped presumably) for each year of service?! WOW.

onelifeleft

It's a good deal, although as said most people I know would rather stay in work ! Prior to the Agenda for Change deal in 2004, the terms were pretty lousy, unless you were oever 50, when you then qualified for a pension.

This approach wasn't compliant with equality legislation and the present deal was re-negotiated.

NB - Max of 2 years pay, although an NHS employer used to need Treasury approval to go any where near this, not sure if they've relaxed this. I've no idea how this was workable, but the government was keen to avoid Daily Mail headlines about adminstrators being paid large amounts in pay offs.