Budget transfers from Central Contingency funding for 2015 pay provision for doctors and nurses

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A decision made 28 January 2016:

Decision reference: MD-HSS-2016-0007
Decision Summary Title:	Central Contingency Funding for 2015 Nurses’ and Doctors’ Pay Awards		Date of Decision Summary:	25 January 2016
Decision Summary Author:	Assistant Director of Finance		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Central Contingency Funding for 2015 Nurses’ and Doctors’ Pay Awards		Date of Written Report:	25 January 2016
Written Report Author:	Assistant Director of Finance		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Transfer of contingency funding from the Central Contingency (Pay Provision) to the Health and Social Services Department (H&SS) for costs associated with the Doctors’ and Nurses’ Pay Awards for 2015.
Decision(s): The Minister requested the Treasurer of the States to approve the following transfers from the Central Contingency (Pay Provision) to the Health and Social Services Department: i> a one-off budget transfer of £265,000 in 2015 to fund the nurses’ pay award; noting that a recurring allocation of £265,000 is already approved in the MTFP from 2016; ii> a one-off budget transfer of £120,000 in 2015 to fund the 2015 Consultant and Middle Grade Doctors’ Pay Award for the period 1st April 2015 to 31st December 2015.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 17(2) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that the Minister for Treasury and Resources is authorised to approve the transfer from contingency expenditure to heads of expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year.
Resource Implications: Health and Social Services Department revenue head of expenditure to increase by a total of £385,000 in 2015 and the Central Contingency (Pay Provision) to decrease by an identical amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for the period of the MTFP 2013 to 2015.
Action required: Assistant Director of Finance to forward a copy of the signed MD to the Decision Support Officer, Treasury for action.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Health and Social Services
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Budget transfers from Central Contingency funding for 2015 pay provision for doctors and nurses

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Health and Social Services

Minister’s Decision Report

Central Contingency Funding for 2015 NURSES’ AND Doctors’ Pay AwardS

Purpose of Report

To request the Treasurer to approve the following transfers from the Central Contingency (Pay Provision) to the Health and Social Services Department (H&SS) for costs associated with Pay Awards to Nurses and Consultant and Middle Grade Doctors:

i> a one-off budget transfer of £265,000 in 2015 to fund the nurses’ pay award; noting that a recurring allocation of £265,000 is already approved in H&SS’s cash limit in the MTFP from 2016;

ii> a one-off budget transfer of £120,000 in 2015 to fund the 2015 Consultant and Middle Grade Doctors’ Pay Award for the period 1st April 2015 to 31st December 2015.

Background

A non-recurrent provision of £400,000 was made in the Central Contingency (Pay Provision) for anticipated pay awards for Nurses and Doctors in 2015.

A firm offer of 0.4% or £265,000 has been made to nurses for 2015. This sum has been included in H&SS’s cash limit from 2016 but a one-off budget transfer is required to meet the 2015 costs.

Jersey doctors’ pay awards are linked to the NHS pay scales. An offer of a 1% consolidated Pay Award has been accepted by Consultants and Middle Grade Doctors to take effect from 1 April 2015. The costs of the 1% Pay Award are £120,000 for the 8 months of 2015 with a full year effect (January 2016-March 2016) of a further £62,000. The full year recurrent cost is £182,000..

These sums exclude any agreement which has yet to be reached with the Junior Doctors. Junior Doctors work on rotation with NHS hospitals. At the time of writing, Junior Doctors’ pay negotiations are continuing with the NHS.

The Council of Ministers must consider this application and provide the Minister for Treasury and Resources with a recommendation for approval if they support the proposal. The Minister is responsible for taking the decision as to whether to approve the transfer.

This paper seeks approval to transfer funding for the 2015 financial impact of known 2015 pay awards only. 2016 funding of the nurses pay award is already included in the MTFP. Funding for the 2016 cost of doctors pay awards will be the subject of further discussion and agreement in 2016.

Recommendation

The Treasurer is recommended to approve the following budget transfers from the Central Contingency (Pay Provision) to the Health and Social Services Department:

i> a one-off budget transfer of £265,000 in 2015 to fund the nurses’ pay award; noting that a recurring allocation of £265,000 is already approved in the MTFP from 2016;

ii> a one-off budget transfer of £120,000 in 2015 to fund the 2015 Consultant and Middle Grade Doctors’ Pay Award for the period 1st April 2015 to 31st December 2015.

Reason for Decision

Article 17(2) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that the Minister for Treasury and Resources is authorised to approve the transfer from contingency expenditure to heads of expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year.

Resource Implications

The Health and Social Services Department revenue head of expenditure to increase by a total of £385,000 in 2015 and the Central Contingency (Pay Provision) to decrease by identical amounts. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for the period of the MTFP 2013 to 2015.

Report author : Assistant Director of Finance HSSD	Document date : 25 January 2016
Quality Assurance / Review : Director of Finance	File name and path: L:\Finance\Ministerial Decisions\2016\WR - Central Contingency Funding for 2015 Doctors Pay Award.docxy Awards\
MD sponsor : Director of Finance