Job grades are re-evaluated

10 December 2018

The government is to correct the grades and salaries of 126 Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) and Social Workers, after a report from an independent specialist found that they had been inappropriately uplifted.

These roles were separately re-evaluated in November 2017, and their grades and pay increased, outside the recognised process that should be used for all other roles. This prompted unions for nurses and midwives to complain that the re-evaluation was unfair.

At the request of unions, the Health department commissioned an independent HR consultant to investigate how this uplift had been agreed. The report found that the job evaluation process was flawed and should not have been carried out outside the wider evaluation process for all roles.

The States Employment Board (SEB) and trade unions have therefore agreed that those employees who were uplifted by this exceptional process in November 2017 should return to their original grades.

The Deputy Chair of SEB, Connétable Richard Buchanan, said: “This has been an issue of contention for nurses and midwives for most of the past year, and it is important that we resolve it fairly and appropriately. We regret the upset that this correction will inevitably cause to those who are directly affected, but we have to put his right. We won’t be asking them to pay back any of the uplifted salary they received, because we don’t want them to be penalised unfairly for a situation that is not their fault.”
All affected employees have been written to by their departmental Director General to explain the situation. They will be returned to their original grades, adjusted for any increments, from 1 April 2019.

Connétable Buchanan added: “A full pay and reward review will now be run across the public service, alongside departmental restructuring. We want to tackle pay and grading issues properly, and any proposals for further change will be presented to the States Employment Board by the end of March 2019.”

The AHP and Social Worker roles will be reviewed alongside other roles as part of this work.