re: NHS Salary offer help needed

[mammasmadhouse]

I have been offered a new post with the NHS, the offer letter has come through and it is some £3k less than my current salary. I have previously worked for the nhs for 14 years,then left to work in my current role where I have been for the last 3 years, Do I have scope to negotiate or do I have no choice but to decline the offer, my current salary was detailed on my application form and I have previoulsy been employed at nearly the top of this band??
I am not sure if this will be an indication of how things are now, but I also have a hughe dilemma in terms of parking, which I uderstand for new staff is off site and you then have to get a shuttle bus into work (doesn't take a great deal of time I know) but has a an impact on getting from school and then to work which will mean I need to arrange a childminder to take my dd to school so I can get to work on time. Am I mad to consider this....??

Whether you have scope to negotiate depends on how keen they are to get you. If you were head and shoulders above the rest of the field, and they would possibly have to start recruitment over again, then there might be potential.

If there were loads of good candidates then you might not be in as strong a position.

There may be little room to negotiate - I think that it is fairly normal to offer bottom of band unless you're transferring in on a paypoint within the scale for the role. Is that what you've been offered? If it's mid-way up the band I would query why, since the offer doesn't reflect your previous paypoint in this band.

However, if you're also looking at a fairly major inconvenience (and some cost) to get there on time I'd be questioning if this is the right move for you. What are the plus points of the role?

When we recruit we are only allowed to recruit to the bottom two increments of the band. HR will not move on this. Sorry if you didn't want to hear that.

we have scope under agenda for change to place a justification with HR to offer posts further up the band in similar circumstances. tbh I've not had to do this in the last couple of years so unsure whether it would go through given the current economic situation but if the successful applicant asked, then I would certainly ask the question.

I would not be allowed to increase my offer without clear evidence of your previous NHS employment fitting AfC policy on pay. If you contacted me and offered that I'd negotiate

There is always room for negotiation. That why the whole range would have been advertised (check back at paperwork?). Obviously they'd prefer to appoint at as lower down as possible, so it will depend on how much they want you.

try it, I negotiated a non Whitley scale back in the day 1999 and every NHS job after that they would try to drop me back to the scale I should have been on by that time if I had not gone non Whitley, this included when AFC came in and again I argued the toss and got it.

to be honest so few nurses ask for more money they really don't know how to react and the argument that you need to prove what you where on before in the NHS is pointless as it is what you are on now which is important, remember employment is a 2 way street.

it sounds to me the money should be a deal breaker if you are employed already as the shuttle bus and resulting childcare fees really make a massive dent in finances. the shuttle bus at my local hospital is not free, as it is a council carpark so has to be paid for, last I looked it was 1.40 a day, that was 6 years ago.