NHS banding question 6 to 7.

[Crazymaisienumber9]

Job situation banding
I work in a specialist nursing team. Although we are one team, the team is split in 2 sites to cover the geographical area that we work. Both sides have equal amount of team members with equal amount of bands ie 2 band 7s / 4 band 6s / 2 band 3s . Myself and an equivalent band 6, who works on the opposing side, have the specialist practice and prescribing course. We each have our own caseload and according to a recently advertised band 7 post, have been doing the job of band sevens. Our other 2 band 6 colleagues are currently doing their specialist practice and haven't as yet completed their prescribe ring course. Both have young families and are saying they may hold back on doing their prescribers once the specialist practice is completed around mid 2019. Neither has a caseload and essentially don't have the same responsibility as myself and my fellow qualified colleague despite being on the same payscale.

So my qualified band 6 colleague and I have asked to have our banding uplifted, which we were verbally told was supported. Without notification we discovered that the jobs have been advertised as band 7 but as a temporary ‘secondment’ until March 2020. These jobs are an internal trawl and ‘funded’. It states that come the end of this period our permanent job status would remain should there not be any further funding.

My questions are these, why apply for a temporary position if you have a permanent one, is this just managements way of avoiding giving us back pay or having to acknowledge our historical band 7 work or some other possible catch, if we are doing a band 7 job why only offer it as a temporary position, I would like my band 7 work acknowledged historically not just for money?

I think something stinks about this, but don't know enough to identify exactly what. I think management are possibly up to something here but just not sure what. I wonder if I am better to sit tight, get my job reevaluated through an agenda for change appeal, hence stay in the same permanent job without going through the rigors of an interview for a job that appears to be riddled with possible holes. (I have previously had a band 7 interview which I passed but didn't get the job.)

Thanks in advance.

That's a bit of an odd way of doing things (I am a 8), but I suspect its something really mundane like they haven't got the budget beyond that time, or if one of you left, they would readvertise as a 6. In my Trust, we would need to show evidence of restructure for the team if needing more senior permanent staff. Why don't you ask your line manager about the reasons?

Yes if your a band 7 you should be able to communicate with sufficient confidence to ask your line manager and/or HR. I suspect permanent posts have a recruitment freeze and need board approval but temporary posts can be squeezed through. It will definitely be around budget.

Hi showmeyourgroovymoves, I have asked them but I don't trust them. They have said it's a secondment after initially saying they were fully supportive of our fulltime upgrade. They are now saying the money available is dwindling fast but are employing our newly retired band 8 to come back in to work 2 days a week on another project for our team. I think this is where at least some of the money is going. We have had other issues within our team and their behaviour hasn't inspired alot of confidence in their honesty or support hence my scepticism. I just wonder if sitting tight and going through agenda for change appeal is the wiser move ? In this instance my position ( ie fulltime permanent ) wouldnt change, I would have my historical band 7 time acknowledged should I want to apply for another job, as well as a possible financial reimbursement, whereas if i just apply for the job these will only be effective from the date i get the new job. Or do i apply anyway and historically claim ? It has also occurred to me if i didn't pass the interview any claim on an acknowledgement of previous experience might be negated thereby shooting myself in the foot, or am i way off here ?

Hi Cherrypavlova I'm a band 6 aiming for a band 7, I have asked management but don't have confidence or trust that they may act in our best interests. They have previously verbally supported a full time upgrade but now seem to to be offering a different scenario. Why apply for a temporary posion if you have a permanent one, what happens at the end of it if there aren't the funds , do they offer to move us somewhere else in the trust within our speciality and if we don't accept it's back to band 6 ? This is why I'm wondering if it's better to just go through agenda for change appeal ?

AFAIK an AFC appeal for rebanding will only get you back pay from the date it was formally agreed that you could claim I.e. signed off on correct paperwork. So until you make that claim there isn’t any back pay to worry about. A verbal agreement is a bit like me saying “yes I think so” to DDs request to go shopping at some point. Vague, unconfirmed, no date set and I might change my mind...

I very much doubt these jobs are about avoiding backpay. I suspect they are about having a need for extra staff and having some funding for it.

Your request to have a banding review is a completely separate action however if you are performing the exact same role as has now been advertised as a Band 7 you have ample evidence to put forward to be reviewed.

Just do that.

Thanks ilovepiercebrosnan appreciate the feedback.

In my trust if you do a temporary post for 3 years it becomes a substantive post without it having to be advertised. That means you keep your job at a 7 as opposed to having to interview for the job your doing and risk not getting it. It is a fairly normal practice both in the NHS and local council (Health and Social Carr Partnerships. Of course this is never actually spoken/agreed to

A secondment is not a temporary position as you would automatically revert to a band 6 afterwards, so still have a job.

Moat likely what is happening is that your service is funded as part of a 3cor 5 years contract. At the end of the contract, there is no guarantee that the commissioners will renew it. If they don't renew it, there would have to deploy you to another role or make you redundant. There is more chance to redeploy you on a b6 role than b7 with your speciality and they will want to avoid any redundancy.

There decision makes good business sense but it is hard to understand if from a service perspective. Your manager should be able to explain it but might be worried you might decide to look elsewhere for a permanent b7 job.