EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues Agenda For Change AFC and On-call

Hi all
Can I suggest if you provide an on-call service you work out whether you would be better off under your current or AFC arrangements for payments. The reason being according to the final agreement and staff terms and conditions handbook on the DOH website staff groups will get a choice which arrangements to use and these will take effect from October 2004. Here we would gain substantially from the AFC arrangements but unfortunately our local union reps have made an agreement with human resources not to implement the AFC on-call arrangements (without consulting those that actually do on-call). This agreement will last until the review of unsocial hours and on-call is complete which could take 4 years. According to our AFC project manager all the other trusts in our region are doing the same.
If you will be better off under AFC arrangements contact your local union rep and make sure they make no such agreement if they have not already done so.

Dave
We have given this a though, at the moment we dont know which pay band we will be on (band 5 or 6), if on 5 we will be worse off, if on 6 we will be better off. What are we meant to do?

bobbyp
Make sure your staff side reps don't sign away your right choose before you do know. We gain whichever band we get.

Dave W
We've given this some thought as well, and on AfC we'd have to all earn over 29K basic to equal our present call out arrangement, and though we are always optimistic....

Dave
As far as I know ON CALL has been taken out of
of the current AFC equation for further
negotiations.The general advice from AMICUS
is to stick with the current Whitley conditions
until further proposals are forthcoming,which
hopefully we will be able to vote on.However
don't hold your breath over whatever is proposed
as the DoH seem determined to cut costs.

Hi everyone,
does any one know what the overtime rates are once AfC is implemented?
The reason for this question arising is as follows:-
Our nursing staff (who have been AfC'd) get time plus 1/3 for weekday and Saturday overtime and time plus 2/3 for Sunday and Bank Holiday working.
We currently receive time plus 1/2 and double time respectively as per Whitley guidelines.
They have also lost their time back as per the "working time initiative".
Does this mean that the "same as" rules will apply to the technical staff that seem to have been applied to the nursing staff??

Steve
Overtime payments under A4C will stay the same at time and a half and double time for bank holidays.
I think the nursing rates that you have cited are for working unsocial hours and not overtime rates.

Wasn't the original AfC unsocial hours arrangements shelved with the old Whitley system being used until the staff and management side could agree on a new system?

1 thing to watch out for if you end up on pay protection under A4C the amount of overtime you work in the month is subtracted from the payment protection you are given in that month. Therefore you will be working for nothing.
The same doesnt apply to On Call.

We decided that we wanted to go onto the A4C on-call system of payments and we are on it now! As far as I understand if you want to go onto the A4C on-call arrangements you can, that is why is called an option.