Recruitment and Retention Payments

Recruitment and retention premia are additions to the pay of a post or group of similar posts where market pressures would otherwise prevent the employer from being able to recruit or retain staff in sufficient numbers at normal salary for jobs of that weight. The new system provides for them to be awarded on either a national or local basis. But where it is agreed nationally that a recruitment and retention payment is necessary for a particular group the level of the payment should be specified or, where the underlying problem is considered to vary across the country, guidance should be given to employers on the appropriate level of payment

Guidance on the application of nationally agreed recruitment and retention premia can be found in Annex R of the terms and conditions of service handbook. A link to the document can be found on the right hand side of this page.

Review of national recruitment and retention payments

The NHS Staff Council reviewed the need for the national recruitment and retention payments for maintenance craft workers:

The Council has accepted, on the basis of independently commissioned research from the University of Greenwich Business School, that there remains a continued justification for these payments on labour market grounds. Links to the Staff Council statement and the research report can be found on the right hand side of this page.

Recent Employment Tribunals:

Employers should be aware of the following Employment Tribunal judgements in relation to entitlements to the national RRPs.

The Employment Tribunal ( Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust v Philpott and others) found that the national recruitment and retention premium for maintenance craft workers with full electrical, plumbing, mechanical craft qualifications is a contractual entitlement under the Agenda for Change agreement.

The judgement says ' The unanimous Judgement of the tribunal is that the written statement which the claimant (Newcastle FT) gave to each of the respondents [named crafts employees at the trust], under section 4 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, containing particulars of changes which had effect from 1 October 2004 to the written statements of particulars of employment which had previously been given to each of the respondents, is herby amended, pursuant to section 12(2)(b) of the said Act, by adding the following further particulars - a recruitment and retention premium shall also be paid, at the yearly rate of £2808 with effect from 1 October 2004, at the yearly rate of £2899 with effect from 1 April 2005 and at the yearly rate of £2972 with effect from 1 April 2006.

A subsequent Employment Tribunal judgement (Callard v Lancashire Teachings Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - February 2008), decided that there was also a contractual right to the national RRP for an employee who started employment with an NHS organisation after 1 October 2004 (the effective date of the new pay system).