Image: Great Ormond Street hospital by David Hawgood
Thanks to ongoing negotiations with UNISON, yesterday the Great Ormond Street Foundation Trust announced that domestic staff who have transferred back in to direct employment by the Trust, and who were previously formally employed by OCS, will now have the same annual leave entitlement as those on Agenda for Change (AfC) terms and conditions. This is a positive change as most domestic staff currently only receive 21 days annual leave, but under AfC they will be entitled to the following:
- If staff have worked at Great Ormond Street for up to 5 years they will be entitled to 27 days annual leave, plus 8 bank holidays
- If staff have worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital between 5 and 9 years they will be entitled to 29 days annual leave, plus 8 bank holidays
- If staff have worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital for 10 years or more they will be entitled to 33 days annual leave, plus 8 bank holidays
These changes will be backdated to August 1 2021.
“This is a huge step in the right direction and will make such a big difference to this staff group. However we still believe that all of these staff members should receive AfC pay and terms and conditions, and whilst we recognise the Trust’s efforts to improve the working conditions of this group of staff, we will still be continuing to push for full AfC, which I am confident we can achieve.” – Nerrine Brown UNISON Branch & Staff-side Chair
After pressure from UNISON and staff side the Trust agreed to insource staff employed by OCS in August 2020, a service that had been outsourced for over 20 years. However they weren’t to be officially transferred until August 2021 as that was the date the OCS contract ended. As of January 2020 UNISON have been meeting with the Trust regularly to negotiate on behalf of their members in this staffing group, and it is through those negotiation meetings that the following has been agreed:
- Sickness entitlement – As of 1 August 2021 all staff that transferred back in will have access to AfC sickness entitlement
- NHS Pensions – As of 1 August 2021 all staff that transferred back in will have access to the NHS pension scheme
- Abolishment of the clocking in machine – As of 1 August 2021 staff that are transferred back are no longer required to clock in and out of work as expected to by OCS
- An uplift to the minimum basic hourly pay – the Trust increased the minimum basic hourly pay from £10.85 to £11.84 per hour, which is the same as the Agenda for Change band 2 pay range. This is also from 1st August 2021.
- A 3% pay uplift to current pay – the national NHS pay award for this year was 3%. Staff that transferred in were not covered by the national NHS pay award due to the date of transfer. Through negotiation GOSH agreed to uplift the pay by 3%, from 1st August 2021
- Current changing rooms to be refurbished
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