What would make you consider working in NHS admin right now?

[Helpmethinkofasolution]

I have never known things as bad as this. Job getting no applicants, successful applicants regularly turning down jobs and then us having to go back to the start in terms of recruitment.
When I started in 2018 I remember there were 200 applicants for most band 4 jobs. Where are those people now and what is going to attract people to apply again?

Is it post Covid wariness of the NHS? Is it that we used to be flexible but now WFH jobs are even more flexible? Is it that the private sector is paying more? To my (possibly un- observant) eye, it doesn't seem like there are loads of admin jobs out there offering much more money. Unless it's that there is less responsibility with these private sector admin roles.

We used to get a good stream of working mums (generally) who would appreciate an interesting and flexible job with good sick pay, annual leave and ok pension but they are no longer applying.
This won't be used in any recruitment campaign, I'm just genuinely interested (and bloody worried that I'll be doing six peoples jobs forever!)

[TheWayoftheLeaf]

I know admins around me in London usually earn £40-70k.

[TheWayoftheLeaf]

£22k is pathetic. I earned £20k as an apprentice private sector (not admin).

Barely a living wage.

[TheWayoftheLeaf]

@bellac11

I'd love to know where all these apparent jobs are that pay around 25 to 30k that I see referenced in the thread for 18+ people or 'apprentices' with few skills or qualifications

My OH is only on about 27k, works for a local authority in central London, pays a massive amount in commuting costs. He doesnt have a degree, is near retirement age, was looking for jobs around 10 years ago to move away from that job but couldnt get anything. He has no specific qualifications but would love to work more locally. Just cant find anything even if he lowered the income a bit to take account of the lowered transport costs.

Wages around here for admin work or equivalent are around 18k if you're lucky.

Likely because he has no qualifications. They tend to require a degree or higher even if it's not relevant.

[MidnightMeltdown]

@bellac11

I'd love to know where all these apparent jobs are that pay around 25 to 30k that I see referenced in the thread for 18+ people or 'apprentices' with few skills or qualifications

My OH is only on about 27k, works for a local authority in central London, pays a massive amount in commuting costs. He doesnt have a degree, is near retirement age, was looking for jobs around 10 years ago to move away from that job but couldnt get anything. He has no specific qualifications but would love to work more locally. Just cant find anything even if he lowered the income a bit to take account of the lowered transport costs.

Wages around here for admin work or equivalent are around 18k if you're lucky.

They can't be that low. 18k is below minimum wage

[MintJulia]

It isn't only the NHS having problems, recruitment is generally tight. There were more vacancies advertised in May in the UK than there were people claiming unemployment. Given that shortage, a salary barely above minimum wage, and the thought of paying to park at work is not attractive.

We struggled to recruit an admin on £30k so have hired a remote admin, based in Lincoln, although we are in London.

[user1497787065]

I have done surgery reception work before so know how poorly these staff are treated by the public. There is currently a job being advertised in the next village at £9.50 per hour but the hotel next door want cleaners at £10.50. It doesn't make sense.

I was interviewed recently for a NHS job. Three interviewers for an entry level role. How the questions asked would indicate the best person for the job I've no idea. The usual 'How would your previous colleagues describe you? What do you understand by confidentiality?

For me the job as described was so dull and I was told that some days are very quiet. So why employ another administrator then?

[MissWired]

You can't live on £22-25k anymore, especially as a single person.

I get £27k and that's for a basic warehouse job in the North.

[MissWired]

@Diamond7272

I always find it amusing how the managers on £50,000+ find it 'surprising' how their 'competitive' pay package of £22,000 isn't snapped up with waves of applicants...

Clearly it wasn't 'competitive' enough for them to consider that career.

It's always rich people grumbling that poor people won't accept half their wages and make or save them money.

I see at the Tory conference in Eastbourne today legions of wealthy old people and business owners grumbling they have no applications now for their minimum wage jobs. It must be awful having no one to keep screwing over...

Oh don't worry about the rich - they're about to import 3.6 million Hong Kong Chinese, that'll depress wages nicely.

[MarieG10]

@Helpmethinkofasolution

@TamSamLam this is part of the problem, it's all done externally. I ruddy hate the standardised job descriptions as they make the job sound like you're doing everything and yet nothing. There's so much waffle it is impossible for an applicant to work out what they're actually doing on a day to day basis which puts people off!

I have joined the NHS and lead a team. The job descriptions are stupid at times and don't tell people what they are doing. I have/had mine rewritten for my team. However, recruitment is still very difficult. Reality is that even with the pension, lower bands such as 4 are paid awfully for the role. The latest pay increase (cut) is only exasperating it . My team last advertised a band 4 role last month and got three applicants. Quality awful. Didn't appoint

[GuyMontag]

@MidnightMeltdown

They can't be that low. 18k is below minimum wage

Not if full time means 35 hours because lunch is unpaid. An employer can do that, pay £18k (think the exact amount is £18018) and still call themselves a living wage employer (ie advertise themselves as signed up to the living wage foundation).

[Eunorition]

No one wants a 22k job when you can get higher pay, more flexibility and more respect in the private sector. As a 'working mum' I wouldn't touch the NHS as I've heard it's such an awful, stressful and bullying sort of place to work.

Also we want careers with growth and a future. NHS doesn't give off an aura of career progression.

The media doesn't help, makes it sound like it's barely hanging on and an utter shitshow.

[Helpmethinkofasolution]

I don't know if it's just me but I can't find these 27-30k admin positions on indeed, I'm in the south west.

[EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn]

My field is digital not admin, but I’d be very wary of applying for a digital NHS job because I’m a lesbian LGB Alliance supporter who believes that gender ideology is homophobic & tenses up in the presence of Progress Pride flags. Which seems to go right against NHS views.

[Helpmethinkofasolution]

@EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn you'd think that but the doctors I work for are very concerned about safeguarding biologically female patients on single sec wards.

[Algbu6]

Generally what is the start and finishing time?

NHS moan about staff levels but it's a lot of mums in NHS that need child friendly hours. Since 2012 the hours and the fuss of everyone starring at 7am on a ward has got a whole lot worse it's incredibly early.

Years ago there was a 7am till 1am shift! It was perfect especially on a weekend d now a half day goes on till 15.00/15.30 or even 16.30. That's a full shift it most other work places. Agree with parking issue also... we have had around 3 administration leave for closer to hone reasons and more money.

[bellac11]

@MidnightMeltdown

They can't be that low. 18k is below minimum wage

It isnt at all, its at NMW, for about 36 hours a week.

Im amazed at some of the incomes that are being cited here, we are in the 'leafy south east' but people locally would not have a chance of earning that. Plus the fact that the main centres of employment involve costly bus or train to get to or to be able to run a car, in fact the local city doesnt have a bus you can get home on after 7pm to here, so that takes away from your income quite considerably

[HauntingScream]

A job share option might be helpful. I know quite a few people who would do 2 or 3 days a week but due to other commitments, can't do full time.

[TheIsaacs]

The pay is rubbish, and the work comes in fits and starts. One week I can barely look up for the work piling in and other weeks it’s almost nothing.

Opportunities to move up a band seem to be few in my Trust. Most admin seem to be band 3, but get more and more added to our workloads. It’s frustrating.

One of the only pluses is that it’s been a stable job throughout the pandemic and I’m hoping it continues to be so through any coming recession.

[User6784097]

I think it’s the same across nhs. Our service not hospital but nhs and very important serving over 10000 patients just could not recruit the staff since last three years and it has been decided that it will be closed. Most staff had left already remaining are going to private sector. I really feel nhs is doomed which is so sad.

[ParsleySageRosemary]

There’s been a couple of these kind of threads recently and the answer is the same for all of them. Money.

The generation of working mums that you refer to - who coincidentally worked at a time when employers were offering more part time and flexible work patterns - benefitted from lower house prices, have reached close to retirement age with mortgages long since paid off, and have decided that they have the wherewithal to retire.

You are now trying to recruit people of my generation (mid - late 40s) and younger, at the wages and conditions that the older generation could afford. And then wonder why there’s a problem. We have been faced with quadrupled housing and rental costs all our lives. No one works for nothing and the maths simply does not add up for the generations facing average house prices of £230k rather than £40k. Add petrol and parking costs, and childcare/ out-of-school care issues, and it simply is not worth it. Work no longer pays.

[Fernie2022]

The time it takes to get though checks when appointed is utterly silly when to apply for an NHS job you fill in a electronic form! never seen reference checking so dragged out.

Fixed term was also only on offer when I joined as band 2.

After the delay I ended up with a 'forced' start purely because end of month 1 I'd get all of 1 week's pay and then expected to go with no pay until 26th December - it certainly needed to be one of the best job starts I'd walked into for the financial grief it could cause! I think the root cause is where a lot of staff have long-term service they just can not put themselves in the shoes of being the new person.

In my day 2 chat with the manager, I was told people just didn't make it in the department I was in. It wasn't inspiring to hear and wasn't hard to see why and you would think if they lost so many starters/workers you would re evaluate somethings.

It also was hard knowing the dept management largely worked from home, whereas I was on site and had joined a dept I didn't understand much about (my failing) I gave the job up on day 3.

[NeverDropYourMooncup]

@hamustro

If I were looking for a job at the moment I'd probably be put off applying for admin jobs in the NHS because I've had no luck in the past, despite have years of admin experience, so it'd feel a bit futile. A lot of the admin jobs ask for specific qualifications like an NVQ in business admin or the ECDL. I'm not taking qualifications for a job that pays £22k, especially when I know all the course material from previous jobs or just from using computers in my spare time.

I have only ever seen public sector organisations ask for stupid stuff like the ECDL. It really limits the applicants as the vast majority of experienced admin assistants do not have such qualifications, but they've been doing the job potentially for 20 years and would be great at it.

I took an nvq in business admin about 4 years ago because I was bored. Brand new, up to date specification, apparently.


It was absolutely shit. The only thing that got marks was regurgitating waffling, largely inaccurate info about cancelling a conference if there was somebody who couldn't attend because they'd broken a leg.


Emails, telephones, websites, laws on disability access and the entire fucking 21st century seemed to have passed them by.

[Noideaatall]

DS applied for a similar NHS admin job during Covid. He waited 8 months from the first application to them finally asking him to start the training. By that time he'd (of course) found another, better paid job and forgotten he'd even applied.

[Algbu6]

@ParsleySageRosemary excellent points! And NHS used to offer contracts where the parent gets ALL the school holidays off and still get paid. Imagine! I would be having a field day... I work with one person who still has one of these old contracts.

[DashboardConfessional]

I temped in a hospital. Management were all terrifying yet incompetent women. I was pretty sure I'd have been in tears my first week had I been permanent.