Agenda for change

Agenda for Change is the recent comprehensive pay reform package for 1.2 million NHS staff. It has been the biggest overhaul of  pay,terms and conditions across the NHS in 50 years leading to its endorsement  by major health organisations including the Royal College of Nursing,the Royal College of Midwives and and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists.

Starting in June 2003 twelve Early Implementer sites in England worked hard to put the proposed new system into practice to test its impact on pay and grading before final agreement.The final version of Agenda for Change was agreed at the NHS Staff Council meeting on 23 November 2004 and national roll-out began on December 1st.

As part of the Agenda for Change a new NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework is being introduced which improves the links between education,development and career progression.The new Framework will develop a culture of lifelong learning in the NHS.It will support the process of annual development reviews by enabling staff to identify and acquire new knowledge and skills.
 
Since the implementation of the NHS Job Evaluation Scheme over 200 national job profiles have been produced which can be accessed via the Department of health website. The Job Evaluation Group, a subgroup of the NHS staff council, has been responsible for producing national job profiles.
www.doh.gov.uk

Librarians from the NHS Library and Knowledge Development Network (LKDN) and CILIP's Health Libraries Group have worked together to produce national job profiles for general library and information posts.


In April 2006 the Prison Service agreed to adopt Agenda for Change subject to a period of consultation with staff side organisations. It will replace the Whitley structure upon which the Prison service bases its pay awards and conditions of employment for nursing staff,pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
the Prison Service aims to achieve assimilation by the end of 2006.  
Latest information on www.rcn.org.uk