NHS pay band & associated authority question

LannieDuck

Coraline wrote: »

It's a full time 8a post that I've been assigned permanently and it's gone through business services authority. (ETA: It should be an 8a post after much research and dialogue with colleagues, but the job description lists it as a 6--basically it's the job description for an assistant that I need)

I have a job description that was given to me a month after the fact that was written about six months ago, with a different title and out-of-date specifics.

Currently I do everything listed on the job description, and a lot more.

If you follow this link, and go to "Communications Service Manager" that is the job description that actually describes what I'm responsible for and currently doing (on top of the band 4 PA Administrative job I'm doing as well).

The model across the board in my fellow offices is at mininum one person 8a fitting that job description, with an assistant at band 6. Currently I do not have an assistant which affects item #9.

http://www.nhsemployers.org/PayAndContracts/AgendaForChange/NationalJobProfiles/Documents/Public_Relations.pdf

Your problem is that the post doesn't have a proper job description. Frankly, I'm surprised your organisation was allowed to recruit to the post under those circumstances. Did it go through NHSJobs? Normally those adverts include a JD - did it not have one when you applied?

You need to request a JD that accurately reflects your role, and if you still think it's wrongly graded, ask for it to be put through AFC grading.

Coraline

LannieDuck wrote: »

Your problem is that the post doesn't have a proper job description. Frankly, I'm surprised your organisation was allowed to recruit to the post under those circumstances. Did it go through NHSJobs? Normally those adverts include a JD - did it not have one when you applied?

You need to request a JD that accurately reflects your role, and if you still think it's wrongly graded, ask for it to be put through AFC grading.

There are a lot of shenanigans going on around here that I picked up on after a couple weeks.

This never went through NHS jobs. It was bounced from temporary to temporary worker for about six months, then abandoned completely for four months, then that's where I came in. I'm not sure went on behind the scenes but they changed my title and pay about a month later and backdated it retroactively to the day I started.

A recruiter put me forth to the NHS for a secretarial role, to replace another person who was from that same agency who was leaving. I don't know what the story was with that role, but I was supposed to be brought on in a six month contract but they decided to hire me permanently on the spot.

I know they interviewed a lot of people before me, some internally, some from the recruiter.

All the paperwork, health clearances, reference checks have been done and dusted and I sent off my final final contract 2 weeks ago.

Now we're trying to hire three more people to divide up the business work, and going through the NHS jobs process. Which was a total failure at first pass--18 applications, we had to reject 15 of them, and none of the 3 that were supposed to come in for interviews showed up.

Now HR is saying that we have to contact all the people, find out why they didn't show up, give them a second chance to interview, re-advertise on NHS jobs again, wait another month.

This is absolutely insane--meanwhile we have a recruiting agency on standby that has produced 5 excellent CVs of candidates that have everything we are looking for and are ready to start yesterday.

I feel like I'm in an alternate universe.

LannieDuck

Coraline wrote: »

There are a lot of shenanigans going on around here that I picked up on after a couple weeks.

This never went through NHS jobs. It was bounced from temporary to temporary worker for about six months, then abandoned completely for four months, then that's where I came in. I'm not sure went on behind the scenes but they changed my title and pay about a month later and backdated it retroactively to the day I started.

A recruiter put me forth to the NHS for a secretarial role, to replace another person who was from that same agency who was leaving. I don't know what the story was with that role, but I was supposed to be brought on in a six month contract but they decided to hire me permanently on the spot.

I know they interviewed a lot of people before me, some internally, some from the recruiter.

All the paperwork, health clearances, reference checks have been done and dusted and I sent off my final final contract 2 weeks ago.

Now we're trying to hire three more people to divide up the business work, and going through the NHS jobs process. Which was a total failure at first pass--18 applications, we had to reject 15 of them, and none of the 3 that were supposed to come in for interviews showed up.

Now HR is saying that we have to contact all the people, find out why they didn't show up, give them a second chance to interview, re-advertise on NHS jobs again, wait another month.

This is absolutely insane--meanwhile we have a recruiting agency on standby that has produced 5 excellent CVs of candidates that have everything we are looking for and are ready to start yesterday.

I feel like I'm in an alternate universe.

That sounds like a total clusterf*cough*. As far as I'm aware from NHS interview processes, HR are talking rubbish about giving the people who didn't show a second chance.

Could you take some of the recruiting agency's people on a temporary contract? It could easily be 3 months before you hire someone permanently (given recruiting times and possible notice periods).

But really it sounds as if your manager is out of their depth

FBaby

The issue is that the model you are sharing here is very difficult to interpret unless you have been trained to do so. For example you will notice that band 6 to possible band 8c state that the role involve highly complex sensitive contentious info, so that would be expected as much of a band 6 post than an 8c one.

Much of the difference in banding relates to what is considered highly complex as opposed to complex 'only'. That distinction is specific and not so obvious to someone who hasn't been trained.

budget; band 8a-c refers to being holder of a departmental budget, not specific areas of that department, and that would be expected to be a lot more than £100K.

In your first post, you mention that the budget was delegated? You seem to refer to the authority to authorise invoice. That is very different to having the responsibility for that budget. For instance, if you were to massively mess up, say authorise a payment of £1M instead of £100K, who would be disciplined for it, you or your manager? Would they remain responsible for the role they delegated? Who would ultimately be dismissed?

I know you think I am picking on you, but that's not my intention. It's just that you seem very confident in your belief that your job should be banded higher. You might be right, but in the scheme of things, it would be highly unlikely and considering your lack of experience of the NHS, it is much more likely that it is your lack of understanding of the system that is leading to the confusion. Saying that, good luck. It would be unheard of for someone to start at a band 4 and end up at a band 8a within months, so I would be very happy to eat my words if that was the case and congratulate you on your abilities.

Coraline

I just had a chat with my manager--she said that it's my fault for taking on too much work and that she never expected me to do all of this.

I'm about to jump out the window.

Coraline

LannieDuck wrote: »

That sounds like a total clusterf*cough*. As far as I'm aware from NHS interview processes, HR are talking rubbish about giving the people who didn't show a second chance.

Could you take some of the recruiting agency's people on a temporary contract? It could easily be 3 months before you hire someone permanently (given recruiting times and possible notice periods).

But really it sounds as if your manager is out of their depth

HR is saying that we can only use our temp agency for a couple weeks...nothing more.

polgara

LannieDuck wrote: »

That sounds like a total clusterf*cough*. As far as I'm aware from NHS interview processes, HR are talking rubbish about giving the people who didn't show a second chance.

Could you take some of the recruiting agency's people on a temporary contract? It could easily be 3 months before you hire someone permanently (given recruiting times and possible notice periods).

But really it sounds as if your manager is out of their depth

I wouldnt like to slag off another HR department...however from reading between the lines...I'd say that someone has just found out that the invite letters were never sent. Hence why they are giving them a 'second chance'.

Coraline

polgara wrote: »

I wouldnt like to slag off another HR department...however from reading between the lines...I'd say that someone has just found out that the invite letters were never sent. Hence why they are giving them a 'second chance'.

At this point nothing would surprise me!

LannieDuck

polgara wrote: »

I wouldnt like to slag off another HR department...however from reading between the lines...I'd say that someone has just found out that the invite letters were never sent. Hence why they are giving them a 'second chance'.

lol! I'd love to dismiss the idea as outrageous, but you could be onto something...:rotfl:

LannieDuck

Coraline wrote: »

I just had a chat with my manager--she said that it's my fault for taking on too much work and that she never expected me to do all of this.

I'm about to jump out the window.

Ahh, ok. So your manager agrees you're doing too much and work that is outside of your remit. So does s/he also agree that you can stop doing some of it?