NHS salary bands

Zubeda

I am a psychology graduate and I am applying for assistant psychologist posts within the NHS. I also have relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and I am a single parent with two children. Due to my circumstances and my health I am in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance, I am in the support group. The problem I am having is that there are restrictions with ESA in terms of how many hours I can work and how much I can earn. The hours (under 16 hours) I agree with regardless of the restrictions placed by the ESA because due to my medical condition I would not be able to work more than 15 hours. However, the jobs that I applying for and attending interviews for are either band 4 or band 5 in the NHS. According to the ESA rules, I can only earn £120 (net) per week. Under these pay bands, I would be earning too much if I worked 15 hours and subsequently my benefits would stop. Due to my circumstances and poor health I cannot afford to not receive the ESA as my medical condition is unpredictable, however, I do not want to rely solely on benefits, hence the attempt to look for a part-time job.
If I am successful in securing employment within the NHS and the job is either a band 4 or 5, am I able to ask to be paid less than the advertised salary so that my earning are within the ESA threshold?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

nicechap

Zubeda wrote: »

......
If I am successful in securing employment within the NHS and the job is either a band 4 or 5, am I able to ask to be paid less than the advertised salary so that my earning are within the ESA threshold?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You can ask but the answe will be No.

Maybe ask for less hours rather than lower pay.

Manxman_in_exile

I'm sorry but I don't understand how ESA works, surely however you are better off working 15 hours a week on band 4 or 5 and losing entitlement to ESA? (Sorry if I'm wrong but I don't know).


I understand about the unpredictability of your condition but if you are ill in NHS employment you will get sick pay. If you get sacked because you are too ill to do your job, is it not possible to go back to ESA? (Again I don't know).


I would ask at interview. I suspect the answer will be "No" but they might be happy to pay you at a lower band in your circumsatnces. But I can think of many reasons why they would refuse to do so. But if you don't ask you won't find out.


There's a lot of unemployed psychology graduates out there. Are you in a position to get a doctorate in clinical psychology?

BorisThomson

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

I'm sorry but I don't understand how ESA works, surely however you are better off working 15 hours a week on band 4 or 5 and losing entitlement to ESA? (Sorry if I'm wrong but I don't know).


I understand about the unpredictability of your condition but if you are ill in NHS employment you will get sick pay. If you get sacked because you are too ill to do your job, is it not possible to go back to ESA? (Again I don't know).


I would ask at interview. I suspect the answer will be "No" but they might be happy to pay you at a lower band in your circumsatnces. But I can think of many reasons why they would refuse to do so. But if you don't ask you won't find out.


There's a lot of unemployed psychology graduates out there. Are you in a position to get a doctorate in clinical psychology?

They definitely should not ask, it would show a lack of understanding of the way the NHS works. Each job has a designated band, that cannot be changed.

The only option here would be to request fewer hours, which again is very unlikely because the needs of the department have identified that 15 hours are required. A job share may be a possibility but unlikely on what is already a low hours contract.

OP can you work sixteen hours, possibly making up the additional hour through self employment? That would allow you to claim working tax credits or Universal Credit, and end your ESA claim.

(The ESA situation is a difficult one, there can be situations where you earn too much for ESA but your hours are too short to qualify for anything else.)

w06

OP no NHS Trust would or should agree to your request.

if you're successful in your application you'll be employed on a reasonable wage with a sickness and absence policy, which in the case of the NHS is better than most in the UK.

Zubeda

Physically I would not be able to cope with the demands of a doctorate in clinical psychology. I am aware of the requirements for completing the doctorate but having had MS for 17 years I'm also well aware of my limitations.
I have looked into working tax credits and this option would not be feasable for me.
It would definitely not be better for me to lose my entitlement to ESA, however, I appreciate your comment that you don't know how ESA works.
Thank you all for your advice.

Red-Squirrel_2

NHS trusts are one of the best employers to work for if you have a long term health problem, definitely better than being on ESA I'd have thought.

No point asking for less hours, they will need somebody to work the hours they've advertised.

GlasweJen

No, jobs are banded by difficulty and you'd have unions up in arms if it came about that someone doing band 4 work was being paid band 3. That's a problem in Scotland (and possible the rUK) where a load of people doing band 3 work are on band 2 and it's sparked a huge campaign to have jobs reviewed. Some people have had pay outs and rebanding already.

Asking to be pushed down a band at interview would go down like a lead balloon, it would show that you have no idea how banding works or why certain jobs attract certain pay bands. In your case the fact your job requires a degree would mean it would be a total mickey take to put you on band 3.

You need to work out how things will work if you take the job financially, taking into account your spinal increases each year and see where that leaves you and if that's where you want to be.

Zubeda

I did speak to the my last interviewee when she rang to tell me that I had not got the job due to insufficient relevant experience (I have applied for voluntary work at a few places), she suggested an assistant psychologist post outside the NHS, perhaps with a charity as they may be able to be more flexible with the pay.
Is this a viable option?

w06

Either way you'd in effect be depriving yourself of income in order to remain on ESA, that breaks the fundamentals of claiming benefits.

It is a difficult situation, but if you're working you have to be paid the salary that the post attracts. There are in work benefits to cover this situation and the sickness policy of the employer too

Diamandis

Have you taken into consideration the disability element of working tax credit which is over £3000 pet tear alone?

If you post on the benefits board with more details of how you're calculating things it might help.