overtime payments being stopped

[ihatepeetakers]

Long story short- I work in NHS for over 10 years and have taken on overtime shifts at time and a half on a monthly basis for several years and find the extra money a great help- even more so now with cost of living.
We have recently been told that our new head of department has stopped overtime being allowed to be carried out the wards and departments overseen by him. The rest of the trust remain unaffected. We have been told that if we want extra we have to join the bank and do extra shifts via there- on our own wards . This not only classes as a second job but also only pays the normal hourly rate so after a 12 hour shift people are going to be about £60-£90 worse off,
I understand there are no obligations for the NHS to pay overtime rates nor should staff become to rely on it .
I just want to know if doing this to a small percentage of the workforce is allowed ?

Maybe all other managers will follow this

It's balancing budgets I suppose

My trust has stopped this as well so I think it's becoming more common.

This has been the case in our hospital for a really long time.

Odd that it's not across the trust though

ate people expected to do bank shifts instead ?

Yes, anyone who wants extra shifts does them as bank.

One of the Trusts I work for has just made this change, the other made it a while ago.
However the condition is trust wide so I'd definitely be querying why it's only some wards, as the policy will be a trust-wide policy or they risk discrimination claims.

Yes it's all bank shifts here now.

You are very lucky, we haven’t been offered overtime for about 15 years! We all do extra as bank.

It’s only in the last 10 years the Trust has agreed to pay our substantive band as bank. Before that all nurse bank shifts were paid st band 5!

It’s all budget, will make a big difference, overtime or bank! I’m a Ward manager so have to sweat through the monthly finance meeting, I would be eaten alive if I routinely offered overtime🤣

Our trust only offer OT to specific people on specific wards, have done for years, the rest is bank.

I have not worked on a ward since 2006 and they did that then, it was so annoying doing overtime for a lower hourly rate (my increment on the bank was lower than my substantive post increment - I think they did eventually stopped doing that). Hopefully you can join the bank smoothly, not always the case, and get some unsocial allowance shifts to give you a bit of a boost

Is this not seen as discrimination though ?

No it’s not discrimination. Overtime is a “perk” of a job, it’s not a guarantee. As others have said this is the way it is going now, a lot of our local trusts are like this now.

What kind of discrimination?

Treating some staff more favourable I guess ?

I'm from the US and don't understand what this "bank" system is.

I don't think it's discrimination. I'll occasionally get offered OT, sometimes the ward is staffed by agency over a weekend and there's a safety risk, so they'll offer OT for one of the more experienced nurses to go in and be in charge etc. It makes sense from a safety perspective.

They can impose anything like this that they want to.

It’s not discrimination, it’s probably going to be standard across everywhere soon enough

I think it's fair if you are offered these bank shifts. The NHS has to cut back on how much it costs. Most of its money goes on staff so it makes sense to cut back on staff costs if at all possible. They could get rid of the highly paid inclusion, equality and diversity people too because the NHS is a very inclusive employer.

What characteristic do you have that means you are being treaty as a result?

Pretty standard across most Trusts, sounds like yours is a bit slow to catch on!

I work for the NHS in low band admin role and a our overtime has been stopped by the Trust this month. I usually pick up a few extra shifts a month as overtime so will really miss the extra income.

It's also leaving us massively short staffed at times so the standard of service has definitely declined. They are saying its so they can offer more full time jobs to people, trouble being that our service struggles massively to recruit due to the salary being so rubbish. Seriously considering leaving if I can find something better paid which is a shame because I actually enjoy the job

Our trust is the same but we have just recently stopped agency staff which we previously relied quite heavily on due to bank shifts not being picked up. For context I work on a haematology ward where we give inpatient chemotherapy and at times acuity can be quite high. Now only bank shifts are allowed but they aren’t being picked up for a number of reasons. The feel I’m getting myself and for everyone else in my area is, band 5 bank pay isn’t worth it for the conditions we are having to work in and the responsibility around chemo administration etc so the vast majority of shifts are going uncovered. Where do we stand with this when patient safety is consistently being compromised? We are a half medical ward too so at times have high level supplementary care patients who require more observation. I feel like the trust are relying on the good will of nurses and healthcare assistants to give in and join the bank, work 50+ hour weeks and then will eventually get burnt out and end up off work sick eventually creating an even bigger problem? Advice welcome!

I don’t work in the public sector or NHS so I’ve never been paid overtime and I’ve done tens of thousands of extra hours over the years. That’s how it is in a lot of jobs.

However if you’ve routinely been paid time and a half OT for years and it’s now being taken away that’s very hard. I’m not surprised you are worrying about coping. Is there a way to get bumped up a grade or somehow incorporate what you used to be getting into your regular pay packet? Personally it would put me off doing any OT if you are now effectively taking a pay cut. Not great management, I’d say.

I don’t work for the NHS , but my company ( retail ) did this a couple of years ago around Christmas time . Any overtime is paid at flat rate if you signed up for it , and plenty of people did, enough that they didn’t have to offer premium rate o/t.
People are desperate for extra cash , but so are companies so I guess despite being annoying it’s the way things are going right now .