The toolkit aims to guide employers and their local staff side organisations through their legal responsibilities in relation to equal pay audits. NHS Employers believes that whilst it is not a stated legal requirement under the Equality Act 2010, NHS organisations would find it very difficult to fully comply with their responsibilities under the Act without undertaking equal pay audits. The toolkit has therefore been designed and produced for these purposes. The toolkit will also help NHS organisations across the country as part of their evidence gathering for the new Equality Delivery System as it rolls out across the country.
The toolkit builds on the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) work but recognises that the NHS has a national pay structure and job evaluation scheme in place under the Agenda for Change agreement. It is important to stress that the toolkit can be used to audit the pay arrangements for all NHS staff, including medical staff and senior managers.
The EHRC model includes a five step toolkit. The toolkit designed for use within the NHS has been condensed to three steps as the NHS benefits from having the information systems already in place, including a robust job evaluation scheme and a single staff records system in the Electronic Staff Record (ESR).
To benefit fully from this toolkit, organisations will require access to:
It is essential that employers work in partnership with their staff side colleagues to undertake this work. We recommend that the ownership and development of the audit work sits with your joint negotiating mechanism. You will need to identify individuals with a good understanding of equal pay principles and legislation as well as the necessary skills to help develop and maintain this area of work and offer training where necessary. We would suggest that the following people are involved in the audit process:
- a human resources manager
- someone with knowledge and experience of equality and diversity and the appropriate legisation
- a data analyst (with knowledge of both iView and the Electronic Staff Record)
- staff side representatives.
- a payroll manager.
The organisation should ensure that sufficient time and resources are available to undertake this work at least annually. The outcomes of this work should be published and reported to the joint staff body and board.