Foundation seeks pay rise below Agenda for Change rate

HSJ understands Southend University Hospital Foundation Trust wants to raise pay in 2010-11 by less than the 2.25 per cent Agenda for Change increase.

We need to reward our staff properly, but also make sure we are sustainable

Unison representative and staff-side chair of the foundation trust’s pay negotiation committee Brian Gardiner told HSJ the trust had made clear the pay rise for 2010-11 would be below the 2.25 per cent Agenda for Change rate.

Head of HR operations Keith Warrior said the trust had not given any figure to the union, but he did not deny it wanted an increase below the national rate.

He said managers had used the opening of pay negotiations to set out the financial pressures the foundation trust faced.

He added: “The financial realities are the same for us as everyone else. But because we have local pay we at least have an opportunity as to how we deal with that.

“We need to reward our staff properly, but also make sure we are sustainable. That’s the balance we are trying to achieve.”

Mr Gardiner said the trust’s management had not committed itself to a firm figure in opening negotiations last week but had warned staff their offer would certainly be below the 2.25 per cent increase which forms the last year of the three year national pay deal.

Southend University Hospital balloted its staff to choose between a local or national pay framework when it became a foundation trust in 2006.

Ninety-five per cent of staff chose local conditions, but until now its headline annual increases have been pegged to national rates.

Mr Gardiner said an offer below the national 2.25 per cent would “leave no option for our members but to just jump ship to the Agenda for Change terms”.