How to build a better bank contract – June 2023

The 2023 pay round has highlighted some campaigning, organising and bargaining opportunities around bank contracts. This guidance is aimed at UNISON branches and organisers to help them have informed conversations with members who work on an NHS-operated bank as their primary contract (rather than those employed via NHS Professionals or a private agency). It covers ideas to improve these terms and how to build a 5-step plan to win. Some NHS employers make substantive staff work on a bank contract when doing overtime or additional hours. Further advice to challenge this practice will be developed in line with UNISON’s 2023 Health Conference policy. What is a bank contract? A bank contract is essentially a zero-hour contract which allows a worker to undertake periods of work with an NHS employer. The contracts are designed so that the worker is under no obligation to take work and the employer is under no obligation to provide work. Only during a period of agreed work does the employer offer an employment relationship. Once the period of work finishes the person is considered no longer a worker by the employer. There is no national bank contract and therefore the contract is a local set of terms offered by each NHS employer to its workers. How does pay work under a bank contract? People are paid for the hours they work, which is normally based on a fixed point in the equivalent NHS Terms and Conditions pay band, plus relevant unsocial hours payments. Bank workers are entitled...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: news