NHS experience and pay

[StaleCrumbs]

I’ve tried to find the answer to this in various places but can’t, so Im hoping that mumsnet can save my achy google thumbs!

I’ve got 20 years experience in the NHS, 8 of which have been at band 7. 2 years ago I took a band 5 job to concentrate on my young daughter. She’s at school now so I feel I’m in a position to go back up the bands and I’m applying for a band 6 job, for which I fit the person spec almost (not 100% but about 95%) perfectly.

My question is - would my 8 years at band 7 count as experience at this point in terms of the banding? I’m at the top of band 5, would it be reasonable (IF I get the job obviously) to
ask to be paid at either the mid or the top point of band 6? Or is there no chance and I’ll have to start at bottom 6?

Ex-NHS HR Director here. Guidance on this is very clear.

They should apply the number of years experience you have at band 6 or above.

That seems strange though - I mean, does it mean that someone with no experience of a Band 6 role might have to be paid at the top of Band 6?

Very clear and totally secret? 🙂

My understanding is that if you are moving up a band then you automatically are at the bottom point of the higher band. The only way to get credit to come in at higher point is if you are external to nhs

I have 8ish total years as a Band 6, followed by 8ish as a 7, then the last 2 have been band 5.

So, assuming I have understood what you said, if I am offered the job, I can reasonably ask to be paid top 6 and I won’t look like a money grabbing mobster…? Hooray!

That’s usually the case but I was querying whether I can request mid or even to pay as I have so much experience at higher bands.

i've successfully negotiated top band after a period in a lower band due to experience and skills that demonstrate i match that level. when jobs are advertised the budget allows for top band because you just don't know who will apply. if they can get someone lower down the rung it's a saving for the department.
put your case forward (not just years at the band but why you are worth more than bottom due to your skills, knowledge and experience). NHS staff are terrible for not pushing for what they are worth. good luck!

My experience with this differs between organisations and indeed managers. My old manager would have flat out refused, and said you are going from a 5 to a 6 and have to start at the bottom of 6. Tough luck. He tried to knock me down to bottom of 7 when I joined (7 moving to another 7) but I told him I’d refuse the job if I didn’t get same pay. Current manager would take your case to recruitment and argue for you.

It's worth pushing hard for the higher bands. Be prepared to go in with specific examples of your skills and evidence if you have it.

We absolutely are rubbish at it arent we! My friends in the corporate world can’t believe I’ve never negotiated a salary! We’re also terrible for doing work we don’t get paid for eg through lunch, staying late etc. I hate to think how skint the NHS would be if there wasn’t so much goodwill. Although we probably shoot ourselves in the foot doing this and all end up going off sick so perhaps our goodwill is a well intentioned but false economy.

thanks for letting me know it’s possible - I think I could defintely argue for mid band 6, less defintely for top, but I can try!

if I get the job…. 😆 don’t want to sound cocky…!

Wow. He sounds like he doesn’t know how the pay scales work if he tried to move you down within a band you were already working at… Im happy for you that he is no longer your boss.

Sorry to be negative but at all the trusts I’ve worked for you would start at bottom band 6 as you are currently band 5. I’m not saying that’s as it should be but 🤷‍♀️

If you have multiple years at Band 7 why would you need 5
years at Band 6?

NHS terms and conditions say otherwise.

Accidentally posted before I had finished.

I am in a surprisingly similar position in terms of years of experience on bands and movement down and back up. In my current nhs role I have not been credited for my years of nhs experience in this band and it rankles me greatly however I have yet to find the time to contact union/ACAS and see if I can perhaps make a claim relating to equal pay- as a man with same work history who hadn't been breastfeeding a bad sleeper on return to work would be being paid £5k more than me now.

@StaleCrumbs
i have zig zagged around the bands for many reasons.
i went from mid 8b to 7 when i had two children under 3. they wanted to put me on bottom 7 and i said absolutely not, you have top 7 budget approved and i'm a bargain given my experience! threatened to withdraw and held my nerve.

i then was back 8b level and again dropped because of health issues with my child. no question that time. top band 7, we are lucky to have you.
those managers who say it isn't possible are maybe just in that mindset of old and also maybe resent that they never held their nerve when they were progressing so resent your audacity 😂

@OnceAgainWithFeeling, in my speciality, the roles at each band are completely different.

Yes I successfully negotiated from my top band 5 when I got promoted to band 6. I requested via my matron and my managers that they start me in mid point band 6. My reasons that I gave that the amount of work study and on going study within my new role were not being appreciated by the teeny pay rise from top 5 to bottom 6. And on top of that you are frozen in that same crap pay for 3 years. They had no issue putting me higher. When I contacted pay role as it didn't go through properly at first - payroll said they simply will pay whatever the manager stipulates my pay to be. HR had no involvement at all.

Also in most other sectors most people I know negotiate their pay and push for more. In the NHS people settle for anything even though they're not happy with it.

When I moved back here from overseas I was very clear in every interview that with all my years of experience I was not happy to start on bottom band 5-no one had any issue with that either.

In the end I think it largely depends on your manager and their way of thinking.
It's definatley worth pushing for! Good Luck

I’ve been in your situation and moved from a 7 to a 6, had 6 years experience as a 7 and moved to a very different specialty as a 6. Think theatres going to renal medicine. I was put on point 2 (I think from memory) as they argued that I didn’t have the experience and skill set that they could justify going top band 6 from the outset. I did argue my case but this was what was offered at the time. In hindsight I probably agree with their decision - it was a baptism of fire in my band 6 role and actually carried much more responsibility than the previous band 7. It all worked out and I’ve now progressed to a band 8b in the same specialty.

Well I hope so for the OP.