NHS redundancy rules. Help

Chriswhitt57

I work for the NHS and am now on redundancy notice. I have been made a conditional offer of a new NHS post with a different trust. (18 month fixed term)

My current Trust is saying that as I have been offered another NHS job within 4 weeks of my end date 06/07/2011 I am not entitled to my 5 months redundancy pay from my current trust.

However, they are also saying that if I have a break of longer than a week measured Sunday to Saturday before I start my new job that my new NHS job does not count as continuous service and my new NHS trust will not have to pay me the 5 months I have earned at my present trust when I am made redundant there as it is not continuous service.

Through no fault of mine this may happen as I have to wait for clearance form Occupational Health to take up my new post and I have a chronic condition which means it all takes longer.

If I am unable to start my new job on 4th July the new trust I am joining does not take any more new staff until 18th July which leaves me losing my right to my redundancy pay

It does not seem right to me that both Trusts can avoid paying me my redundancy money due to the interpretation of these rules and that I cannot do anything about it.
Help and advice please.

LittleVoice

Chriswhitt57 wrote: »

I work for the NHS and am now on redundancy notice. I have been made a conditional offer of a new NHS post with a different trust. (18 month fixed term)

My current Trust is saying that as I have been offered another NHS job within 4 weeks of my end date 06/07/2011 I am not entitled to my 5 months redundancy pay from my current trust.

However, they are also saying that if I have a break of longer than a week measured Sunday to Saturday before I start my new job that my new NHS job does not count as continuous service and my new NHS trust will not have to pay me the 5 months I have earned at my present trust when I am made redundant there as it is not continuous service.

Through no fault of mine this may happen as I have to wait for clearance form Occupational Health to take up my new post and I have a chronic condition which means it all takes longer.

If I am unable to start my new job on 4th July the new trust I am joining does not take any more new staff until 18th July which leaves me losing my right to my redundancy pay

It does not seem right to me that both Trusts can avoid paying me my redundancy money due to the interpretation of these rules and that I cannot do anything about it.
Help and advice please.

Ask your current trust for evidence for the statement that a job offer, not a job start, means you are not entitled to redundancy pay.

dseventy

I am assuming your current post is under agenda for change and you are not clinical with my answers.

Chriswhitt57 wrote: »

I work for the NHS and am now on redundancy notice. I have been made a conditional offer of a new NHS post with a different trust. (18 month fixed term)

My current Trust is saying that as I have been offered another NHS job within 4 weeks of my end date 06/07/2011 I am not entitled to my 5 months redundancy pay from my current trust..

This is correct. The fact you have a medical issue is not relavant as its part of the appointment procedure. All job offers in the NHS are subject to satisfactory health clearance.

Chriswhitt57 wrote: »

However, they are also saying that if I have a break of longer than a week measured Sunday to Saturday before I start my new job that my new NHS job does not count as continuous service and my new NHS trust will not have to pay me the 5 months I have earned at my present trust when I am made redundant there as it is not continuous service.
..

I am not sure this is correct, try and get this in writing and post back if you do. Under Agenda For Change, the break is a lot longer than 1 week.

Chriswhitt57 wrote: »

Through no fault of mine this may happen as I have to wait for clearance form Occupational Health to take up my new post and I have a chronic condition which means it all takes longer.

If I am unable to start my new job on 4th July the new trust I am joining does not take any more new staff until 18th July which leaves me losing my right to my redundancy pay

It does not seem right to me that both Trusts can avoid paying me my redundancy money due to the interpretation of these rules and that I cannot do anything about it.
Help and advice please.

Its not "no fault of your own" its your illness that is holding it up. All job offers are subject to health clearance. Also if you take the job then no redundancy is payable from either trust.

HTH

D70

Chriswhitt57

Thanks for these replys every one. I too have doubts about the interpretation of the length of break.
I do know that I will get no redundancy from my current job as I have a new post. My issue is that at the end of 18 months I may be being made redundant again (fixed term) and without continuous service from 2005 will then be entitled to nothing as service will be less that 104 weeks.

Teresa_Green

Hi Chris,

Have another look at Agenda for Change Handbook on NHS Employers website (sorry, I am unable to post links yet).

I too think this is down to interpretation and my take on it is as follows: it depends on your date of termination from your current post and actual start date in your new post (congratulations by the way!) in that if there is a break of more than four weeks between these dates then you get your redundancy from your current post.

If on the other hand you start your new post within four weeks you will not be paid redundancy this time but may do at the end of your new contract. If you are paid redundancy from your current post then that will not count as reckonable service as it cannot be counted twice for the purposes of redundancy anyway.

Do double check any local policies too, especially if you work for a Foundation Trust as they are able to negotiate away from Agenda for Change, but in your shoes I would not worry as you will either have a redundancy payment now and a new job or a job and the possibility of a redundancy payment later.

Your new start date will determine which way it goes in the end but is beyond your control to some extent, so as I said don't worry too much .