Manchester health workers win right to keep pay increase

An employment tribunal has backed UNISON’s claim that health workers at a Manchester hospital should not be denied their incremental pay rise for taking time off work unwell. The decision means that other hospital trusts will not be able to penalise health workers in a similar way.

Under nationally agreed terms and conditions, Agenda for Change, health workers advance one point up their pay band each year until they reach the top of the band. In October, the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust imposed a new rule – any employee who is sick on 4 or more occasions in a year, or for 18 or more days in total, will lose that year’s increment.

UNISON first raised a grievance with the Trust, but when they refused to back down it lodged a tribunal case on behalf of more than 100 members who had been denied their incremental pay rise. They took the case as it not only threatened to hit staff pay hard – potentially leaving them out of pocket for years – but could also hit their pension if they retired before they reached the top of their grade.

For more information on employment law issue contact our specialist Charlotte Woolven-Brown charlottewb@kewlaw.co.uk