/Policies and guidelines/Temporary staff bank operational policy

Temporary staff bank operational policy

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Policy owner: Temporary staff bank team lead
Corporate lead: Director of people, OD and system development
Date approved by Joint Negotiating Consultative Forum(JNCF): September 2024
Date ratified by Trust Leadership team: September 2024
Date issued: February 2025
Next review date: December 2029

Executive summary

The aim of this policy is to ensure that all teams and departments within LCH who use temporary staff are aware of the correct process to commission temporary staff.

The LCH temporary staffing service will ensure that LCH has systems in place which will support the delivery of high quality care whilst minimising clinical risk. It must be remembered that human resources are both our most valuable and most expensive resource. The temporary staffing service will contribute to the efficient use of human resources within LCH by making certain there is a robust bank of appropriately skilled staff available to work flexibly within specified departments throughout the trust when needed, thereby supporting services in matching staffing levels to current service needs. The temporary staffing service will consider the development of other staff groups, including none registered staff, allied health professionals and administrative and clerical staff as directed by the Operations and Workforce directorates. The service will work with teams to support retention of all temporary staff by making them feel valued and, where possible, offering temporary staff opportunities for personal development.

The service will offer flexible and temporary working opportunities whilst ensuring compliance with the European Working Time Regulations. The service will support trust board level and operational managers in the provision of performance management reports and the control of valuable human resources. LCH will work with the Department of Health ‘Code of Practice for the Supply of Temporary Staff’ (2002).

The trust will endeavour to only work with Agencies who are approved by the NHS Nursing Agency Framework Agreement and with whom we have contractual arrangements in place.

All episodes of bank and or agency use will be organised through the temporary staff bank service only. This will ensure compliance and that monitoring can be undertaken. In addition there is the risk that staff could be paid at different rates if temporary staffing is arranged via individual services and or teams.

The policy may be reviewed at the request of management or staff side by giving four weeks’ written notice with reasons for the review.

Equality analysis

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s vision is to provide the best possible care to every community. In support of the vision, with due regard to the Equality Act 2010 General Duty aims, Equality Analysis has been undertaken on this policy.

Table of content

Introduction
Aims and objectives
Definitions
Responsibilities
Temporary staffing office and temporary staffing team
Recruitment
Duties and responsibilities
References
Appendices

1. Introduction

This operational policy for the temporary staffing service serves LCH only and does not include off payroll contractors. National requirements, from NHS Improvements, have further developed the staff bank to centralise agency bookings and usage for the purposes of meeting caps on pay and national reporting.

2. Aims and objectives

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that all teams and departments within LCH who use temporary staff are aware of the correct process in commissioning them and that the operation of the service provides the appropriate controls and safeguards to ensure governance and risk standards are met relating to the use of temporary staff.

This policy will set out the procedure to be followed for temporary staffing solutions within LCH. The policy will clarify how and when temporary staff should be used in the trust and the conditions they can expect the trust to provide and maintain. The trust recognises that there is a need for temporary staff to be used to ensure the continued delivery of high quality healthcare within the communities of Leeds. This policy will ensure that there is a defined standard that we expect from all temporary staff within the trust and the conditions they can expect the trust to uphold.

This policy applies to temporary staff and excludes any off payroll engagements of which there is a separate policy.

3. Definitions

The definitions contained within this document are as follows

Assignment means the individual shift or series of shifts during which temporary staff are engaged by LCH to carry out work.

Back-to-back: A late shift followed by a night duty or a night duty followed by an early shift.

Temporary staff means bank workers who are paid via LCH payroll. There is a mutual understanding between LCH and each member of temporary staff that there is no contractual obligation on LCH to offer work and, equally, there is no obligation on temporary staff to accept the offer of work. Due to the no obligation nature of zero hours working, those
who enter into a contract of engagement are not classed as employees but are ‘workers’ under employment law.

Contract of engagement: The agreement between LCH and temporary staff under which LCH does not guarantee temporary staff a fixed number of hours work per week or month and that work, if offered, is on an ‘as and when basis’ and with no guarantee that work will be available

Agency staff means workers who are employees of an external agency.

4. Responsibilities

All staff engaged by LCH and their contractors must work in concordance with the policies and procedures of the Trust which provide the necessary guidance.

5. Temporary staffing office and temporary staffing team

The temporary staffing office provides services Trust-wide for identified departments. The operating hours and staffing within the team will be reviewed regularly to ensure the service makes efficient use of resources and remains cost effective and available at the most essential times.

5.1 Terms of engagement

The recruitment and operation of temporary staff will be in accordance with the NHSLA standards and LCH policies in line with the NHS Employer recruitment standard.

LCH has consulted with staff representatives on a set of standard terms of engagement for temporary staff which will be issued to temporary staff (see appendix A).

The contract is not an employment contract and does not confer any employment rights on temporary staff. It does not create any obligation on the LCH to provide work, nor does it make any promise or guarantee of a minimum level of work.

There is no mutuality of obligations between LCH and a member of temporary staff at any time that a temporary staff member is not performing an assignment.

5.2 Capability of temporary staff

Before offering an assignment, the temporary staffing officer and relevant senior manager must be satisfied that the temporary staff member:

has the relevant skills and qualifications necessary for the specific assignment
has the requisite qualifications and up-to-date registration for the assignment
there is no other reason why they should not be considered for the Assignment.

If at any point the relevant senior manager considers that a temporary staff member is unable to carry out the services required on the assignment, they must immediately inform the temporary staffing officer who will consider withdrawing the temporary staff member from the Assignment.

5.3 Recruitment practices

Temporary staff will be recruited in accordance with the trust recruitment policy. Staff choosing to leave substantive positions will be eligible to join the internal bank. Staff choosing to leave substantive positions and join an external agency will be unable to work in LCH for a period of six months.

5.4 Bandings and pay

Temporary clinical staff will be remunerated in accordance with the following principles:

The band of pay will be that required by the requesting team or service, irrespective of the substantive band of the member of staff. For example, a member of staff working substantively at band 7 and responding to a request to work a band 5 shift will be paid at band 5 rates.
Rates of pay will be the prevailing Agenda for Change rates of pay as per national agreement.
The ceiling of the rate of pay will be the top of the pay scale of the band requested by the team or service. As such, in a situation where a service has requested a band 5 member of staff from CLaSS the rate paid to a member of staff working the shift cannot exceed the top of band 5.
The point on the pay scale to be paid will be based on the experience and pay progression to date of the individual concerned. More detail is set out below:
- Where a member of staff is working substantively at the band they are to work on bank, they will be paid at the hourly rate equivalent to the pay point they have reached through pay progression in their substantive employment.
- Where a member of staff works bank at a band lower than that of their substantive employment, they will be paid at the at the hourly rate equivalent to the pay point they have reached in their substantive employment and at their substantive band, up to the maximum of the band of the bank shift.
Where a temporary worker with no current substantive post with any NHS organisation works, the following will apply:
- Where the worker has previously had a substantive NHS role which ended less than 12 months prior to them joining the temporary staff bank then their pay progression will be recognised as per the above rules.
- Where the worker has previously had a substantive NHS role which ended more than 12 months prior to them joining CLaSS then their pay rate will be at the bottom point of the applicable Agenda for Change pay scale.
- Where the worker has not previously worked for the NHS then their pay rate will be at the bottom point of the applicable Agenda for Change pay scale.

5.5 Annual leave

Holiday entitlement of temporary staff will depend on the number of hours that they actually work and be pro-rated on the basis of a full time entitlement of [28] days’ holiday during each full holiday year (including the usual eight public holidays in England and Wales). This entitlement is incorporated as part of pay and is calculated by the staff bank every quarter and paid by payroll.

5.6 Pension

Temporary staff will be eligible to join the NHS Pension Scheme. Remuneration will be subject to contribution deductions in accordance with the scheme unless an opt-out is received. It will only be possible to pay into the pension scheme contributions up to full time hours of employment.

LCH will comply with its obligations relating to auto-enrolment as required under the Pensions Act 2008.

5.7 Sickness

In the event that a temporary staff member accepts an assignment but is subsequently unable to work the hours agreed, they must notify the relevant senior manager or temporary staffing officer of the reason for absence as soon as possible on their first day of absence.

Temporary staff members will be entitled to receive statutory sick pay (SSP) if they satisfy the qualifying conditions laid down by law at the prevailing rate in respect of any period of sickness or injury during an Assignment, but will not be entitled to any other payments from LCH during such period.

5.8 Other leave

Temporary Staff will not be entitled to maternity/adoption leave or special leave.

5.9 Policies and procedures

Temporary staff are required to comply with LCH policies and procedures during each assignment.

If the temporary staff member holds a separate substantive post, either with LCH or another NHS body, disciplinary action brought against that temporary staff member by the substantive employer may be taken into account by LCH in deciding whether to allow the individual to remain on a particular Assignment and/or the bank at LCH.

5.10 Professional development

Temporary staff should, wherever possible, be afforded those training opportunities that are open to permanent staff. Professional registered Temporary staff should be given the appropriate opportunities to maintain their continuing professional development. All temporary staff will be required to undertake appropriate statutory & mandatory training.

5.11 Availability, commitment and cancellations

If a temporary staff member has agreed to work an assignment and they are unable to undertake it, they will be required to give a minimum of twenty four hours’ notice for a cancellation unless in an emergency (subject to 5.7 above).

5.12 Cancellations by LCH

If the assignment that a member of staff has been booked for is no longer required, LCH will give a minimum of 24 hours’ notice to the temporary member of staff of the cancellation and will endeavour to find an alternative assignment. If LCH is unable to give more than 24 hours ‘notice then the member of staff will be paid for the assignment.

5.13 Termination

LCH may remove the name of a temporary staff member from the list of available temporary staff if they are unable to accept an Assignment on [two] consecutive occasions or work for [four] consecutive weeks unless the circumstances have been agreed, for example maternity leave.

LCH may terminate a contract of engagement immediately by giving notice in writing if it reasonably considers that a temporary staff member has committed any serious breach of its terms or committed any act of gross misconduct (a non-exhaustive list of examples can be found in LCH’s disciplinary policy).

A temporary staff member will automatically be removed from the list of available temporary staff if they have not undertaken an Assignment for a period of 12 months.

5.14 Personal property

Personal effects are not covered by any insurance taken out by LCH. LCH therefore accepts no liability for loss or damage arising from fire, theft, of any personal property belonging to Temporary Staff on any health service premises or grounds.

5.15 Criminal charges

Any charges brought against temporary staff for a criminal offence must be reported immediately, in writing to the temporary staffing manager. Such charges may result in the individual’s temporary or permanent removal from the list of available temporary staff.

5.16 Confidentiality and data protection

If, in the course of their work duty as a temporary staff member, they come into possession of information regarding patients or personnel employed by LCH, such information should be regarded as confidential and as such not divulged to anyone who does not have the right to this information. Contravention of this may result in the staff member being removed from the temporary staffing service.

5.17 Professional registration

All registered Temporary Staff have an obligation to maintain their professional registration and comply with their professional Code of Conduct. Workers will be able to access LCH revalidation with the staff bank service manager who may act as a confirmer.

5.18 Working time directive

Temporary staff hours will be monitored to ensure that working time regulations are complied with and, as such, they should declare any secondary employment, the details of which can be found on the NHS Employers website

Staff within the trust are required to complete a declaration of secondary work form and ensure that their substantive line manager is aware of their membership of the staff bank. This form is available on the LCH intranet in the Working Time Regulations Policy (April 2011).

5.19 Membership of a union

Temporary staff have the right to join a union and details of staff representatives can be obtained from the temporary staffing office and are available on Elsie.

5.20 Changing Terms and Conditions

LCH may review its requirement for temporary staff from time to time and (or) may update the terms on which it offers such work. In the event of any changes to the terms on which it is prepared to engage temporary staff, LCH may terminate the contract of engagement with immediate effect by giving notice in writing and may, at LCH’s absolute discretion, offer a new contract of engagement.

6. Recruitment

The temporary staffing manager, with the support of operational managers and the Recruitment team will be responsible for the recruitment of staff to the temporary staffing service, in line with all LCH recruitment policies and process

6.1 Induction procedures

6.1.1 Bank-only staff (staff with no substantive contract with LCH)

All temporary staff will receive the agreed induction pack from the temporary staffing service which they must sign to the effect that they have read and understood this prior to working, the content of which will be reviewed in line with the LCH induction policy. In addition, temporary staff will only be provided with a computer access, SMART card and an ID badge when they have completed the trusts Information Governance training. I.D badges must be worn at all times when undertaking an assignment within the trust.

In addition, temporary staff must:

complete a paid supernumerary induction assignment within an appropriate team prior to being offered work
complete the trust induction checklist with the aid of team staff within 37.5 working hours
complete a minimum of 12 day assignments before working nights.

6.1.2 Team managers

Will ensure all Temporary Staff who have not worked in the service in the previous three 3 months complete the team/service orientation checklist with the senior clinician on duty before commencing an Assignment.

6.2 Accountability and authorised signatories

To ensure good practice and a safe system of control is in place, line managers will provide and approve a list of ‘approved signatories’. Line managers must inform temporary staffing of any staff changes affecting this list and, as a minimum, should review this list annually.

6.3 Process for booking assignments

The first principles to be adopted in the management of staffing resources will be in response to clinical need. Practices such as spreading annual leave across the year and matching weekly workload against available staff, will be seen as the norm. Only when all options to cover teams within substantive resources are exhausted should a request to the temporary
staffing office be sanctioned.

On completion of the team roster, should assignments remain uncovered the operational manager will contact the service manager or on call manager to seek authorisation to contact the internal bank. Subject to receiving approval they will then submit an electronic request for cover for the unfilled assignments. Request for temporary staff should be made at the
earliest opportunity. All requested assignments must have a booking reason for example:

increased clinical workload and intervention
compassionate leave
sickness
annual leave
maternity, paternity and adoption leave
training and study leave
vacancy.

There are occasions, when the team staffing numbers are reduced at short notice. This could be due to staff sickness or clinical need. Should this arise then the service manager should undertake a risk assessment identifying options proposed to cover assignments including:

working with reduced staffing for the assignment
accessing available staff within their service area and neighbouring teams
assignment of workload to days when staffing is better
senior staff meetings to consider resources available.

The aim of this process is to assess the appropriate course of action in order to utilise resources effectively.

Request for Assignments with less than 24 hours’ notice must be made by phone and should be followed up by a confirmation by email.

Services and teams must not directly book CLaSS temporary staff or agency staff onto assignments unless in an emergency.

An emergency is defined as an assignment requiring immediate cover outside of the temporary staffing office opening times. Confirmation in writing must still be sent to the temporary staffing office immediately in order for this to be processed as soon as the office re-opens. In addition the authorisation of a senior manager must be sought, out of hours this will be through the on-call manager. The booking will then only be made in accordance with pre-agreed arrangements with approved staff or agencies.

Out of CLaSS office hours any agency staff must comply with NHSI capped rates of pay these cannot exceed the amount shown at NHS website

If the need for the agency worker is deemed by the service manager to put the service at risk by not having this agency cover and the agency will only supply above the capped rate.

The service needs to breach this rate of pay known as ‘break glass.’ This means they will agree to pay the agency above NHSI capped rates. ‘Break glass’ can only be approved by either the chief executive officer or an executive director, it must be recorded in writing and forwarded to the clinicalandsupportservice1@nhs.net email account so that it can be
declared to NHSI.

6.4 European working time directive (EWTD)

The temporary staffing service will, as far as practically possible, comply with the EWTD. The Trust recognises the individual’s right to sign a 48 hour opt-out agreement; however, in the interest of high standards of care and the safety of people in our care, the trust temporary staffing service will encourage temporary staff to work within the Working Time
Regulations.

Requirements for temporary staff include:

Temporary staff should not work more than 48 hours per week (averaged over a rolling 17 week period) without signing a 48 hour opt-out form
Temporary staff who opt out of the weekly maximum can, at any time cancel the opt-out by providing in writing at least seven days’ notice of this intention
48 hour opt-out forms will be reviewed annually and line managers of any substantive staff who have signed an opt-out will be informed
Night workers should not work more than 8 hours daily on average (Note: if workers work less than 48 hours a week on average they will not exceed the night work limit)
Health assessments for night workers on request as per EWTD
Rest periods of eleven uninterrupted hours between each working day
Workers, who work more than six hours continually are entitled to an unpaid rest break of twenty minutes

6.5 Training and professional development

The temporary staffing service recognises the importance of a skilled workforce and continually aims to develop temporary staff and refresh those key skills necessary to provide good contemporary care. All CLaSS temporary staff will undertake mandatory training as determined by the trust. Staff who are not up-to-date with their statutory and mandatory training may not be offered any Assignments unless they can demonstrate that there are plans in place for their training and compliance to be updated imminently. In addition, there may be service-specific competencies that are required.

Any concerns and complaints about temporary staff should be raised with the senior member of staff at the time of occurrence and if it is a CLaSS member of staff the temporary staffing manager informed as issues occur.

Temporary staff that have a substantive contract with LCH will have a training and development plan provided by their own line manager. Where there are issues of concern or identified development needs, it is important that close liaison exist between the relevant line manager and the temporary staffing manager.

6.6 Information technology

Temporary staff will be expected to use the IT facilities provided by the trust in any work that they undertake for the trust. Training is provided and staff are expected to attend any training deemed necessary and to comply with Trust policy and procedure when undertaking any assignment within the trust. Staff will be unable to complete any training or access any
systems until they have completed their information governance training.

6.7 Monitoring and reporting

The line management responsibility for the temporary staff team will be directly with the temporary staff service manager. This line management responsibility has been removed from the operational managers so that impartiality and objectivity can be maximised. However, it is essential that operational managers and senior Trust managers are kept fully informed of activity and performance, particularly of the financial activity of the temporary staffing service which will include, total number of staff available, starters and leavers, request rate –v- fill rate (including unfilled requests) identified by service area.

6.8 Quality assurance

Other means of monitoring quality will be:

Achievement of the internal audit recommendations and key performance indicators regular reporting to the LCH senior management teams; maintaining internal standards set against performance such as the EWTD, HR standards for recruitment and monitoring CRB checks and professional qualifications, meeting standards set nationally, monitoring of complaints and incidents and management of bank staff involved in these.

6.9 Complaints

Complaints relating to the performance of temporary staff should be brought to the attention of the appropriate senior manager of the service involved in addition to the temporary staffing manager and a written statement provided. An initial investigation will be undertaken by the manager of the service where the complaint originated, in line with the trust disciplinary policy and procedure. The temporary staffing manager may be requested to act as the investigating manager if appropriate.

7. Duties and responsibilities

7.1 Chief executive

As accountable officer, the chief executive must ensure that responsibility to deliver effective management of temporary staffing within LCH is delegated to an appropriate executive lead, as outlined in the executive portfolios.

7.2 Executive director of operations

The executive director of operations must ensure that service capacity demands are coordinated and passed to CLaSS.

7.3 Director of workforce

The direct line management of the temporary staffing team will be the responsibility of the director of workforce. The director of workforce must ensure that robust systems are in place for the delivery of effective management of temporary staffing within the trust.

7.4 Senior managers and line managers

Senior managers must ensure that every unit or service under their line management comply with this policy. Line managers of units or services covered by the temporary staffing service must:

only commission temporary staff in line with this policy
ensure that the staff they are responsible for also comply with the policy
support the temporary staffing manager in interviewing bank staff
support the temporary staffing team in offering induction Assignments to new bank-only staff
ensure local induction procedures are followed, for example team orientation checklists
provide feedback on individual bank staff.

7.5 Temporary staffing manager

Will be responsible for the following:

recruitment and retention of temporary staff
ensuring that induction programmes are in place and delivered
providing on-going staff development for temporary staff
ensuring temporary staff are paid according to terms and conditions agreed
monitoring the use of temporary staff and agencies and where appropriate taking action to reduce reliance on agency use
ensuring NHS Framework Agencies are used if the use of agency becomes necessary
producing reports on Temporary Staff activity
ensuring Trust policy is followed in relation to additional staffing requirements
representing LCH in dealings in relation to agency frameworks
authorising and monitoring agency invoices and use
reporting use of agency and any breaches of caps as required to external bodies.

7.6 Temporary Staffing team