Nursing in The United Kingdom - Pay Scales - Agenda For Change

Agenda For Change

This system puts nurses (and most other non-medical/dental staff) on "bands" between 2 and 9. Unregistered staff take up bands 2-4, with qualified staff taking bands 5-8. Band 9 posts are for the most senior members of NHS management, currently there are no such positions in existence for nurses, although there will probably be such a position in future nursing in the UK.

The idea of this system is "equal pay for work of equal value". There was a perceived discrepancy, under clinical grading, between ones grade (and therefore pay) and the work which one actually did, which Agenda for Change aimed to fix. Most NHS staff are now on the AfC system which took quite a long time to implement across the UK. A small percentage of staff are still going through an appeal procedure as they disagree with the band that they have been placed on.

Agenda for Change pay bands starting 1 April 2010, for the period of 2010/11. Pay for nurses on each of the bands is as follows:

• Band 2: £13,653 - £16,753
• Band 3: £15,610 - £18,577
• Band 4: £18,152 - £21,798
• Band 5: £21,173 - £27,534
• Band 6: £25,472 - £34,189
• Band 7: £30,460 - £40,157
• Band 8a: £38,851 - £46,621
• Band 8b: £45,254 - £55,945
• Band 8c: £54,454 - £67,134
• Band 8d: £65,270 - £80,810
• Band 9: £77,079 - £97,478

Most nurses in England and Wales are now employed under Agenda for Change terms, however there are some still employed on clinical grades, especially in Scotland where only 9% of the workforce has been assimilated. The government has set numerous targets for the transition to be complete (all now past), but a full transition is yet to take effect.

There have recently been complaints of Agenda for Change being a sexist system, as nurses, who are mostly female, claim that, as a profession, they are under-valued using this system.