HR processes

There are no plans to offer voluntary or compulsory redundancy. It is envisaged that all Wigan, Greater Manchester and Bolton staff will transfer to Greater Manchester Mental Health and their roles and responsibilities will remain in place.   It is acknowledged that after this transfer Greater Manchester Mental Health may review roles and structures, which will be subject to any required organisational change process.

On 27 January 2021, all members of Trust staff were issued letters detailing which organisation they will be transferring to either on 1 April 2021 or on 1 June 2021. Formal staff consultation commenced on 1 February 2021 and concluded on 2 March 2021 for staff transferring to Greater Manchester Mental Health.  

All staff who deliver support services in Wigan, Bolton and Greater Manchester services will transfer to Greater Manchester Mental Health along with Wigan, Bolton and Greater Manchester services operational colleagues.

Under national legislation, TUPE Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment) regulations will be followed. Staff will transfer with the same contractual terms and conditions. This includes national conditions of service for staff who are employed on Agenda for Change and those on Medical and Dental (M&D) conditions of service. Your continuity of employment and rights will be maintained.   

When an individual’s employment transfers to another organisation as a result of a transfer of services, it is done so under a legal directive called TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment). This provides protection to the employee to transfer to the new employer on the same terms and conditions of employment, which includes pay.

TUPE does not provide open ended protection for the remainder of employment with the new employer. Further changes could be made in the future to job roles and / or terms and conditions of employment but the new employer would need to consult with staff on these changes and the TUPE (transfer of employment) can’t be the reason for the changes.

Paid volunteers will be treated the same as Trust staff and will be sent a letter asking if they wish to be involved in the new organisation and new security badges will be issued. Any unpaid volunteers will be asked if they wish for their data to be shared with the new organisations so they can be written to about volunteering opportunities.

The organisational structures within GMMH are outside of NWBH control. If they determine that a team / department will transfer into a directorate within their organisation then this is not something we are able to influence.

Our staff side and trade unions have a key role in this process. In addition to existing structures already in place, we have established weekly meetings HR leads and Staff Side from both our Trust and from Greater Manchester Mental Health. They are there to enable you to raise any concerns you have, either as an individual or as a staff group.  You can find out who your trade union representative is on StaffZone.

Any members of staff who have a vehicle through the current lease car scheme at NWBH (Tusker) will have the agreement transferred over to GMMH for the remainder of the lease in a closed scheme. GMMH’s lease car scheme provider is NHS Fleet Solutions. Any applications for lease cars submitted after February are not able to be approved by NWBH and will need to be redirected to the GMMH lease car scheme.

All NHS pensions are protected when staff transfer from one NHS organisation to another NHS organisation.

If you have Mental Health Officer Status, provided you remain in a role that is eligible for Mental Health Officer Status, you will retain your status when transferring to Greater Manchester Mental Health. If you have any questions regarding this issue, you can contact our HR team.  If you would like to individually discuss your Mental Health Officer Status, you can speak to the NHS Pensions agency directly who administer the scheme.

Staff on secondment remain employees of the Trust and will be included as part of the consultation process. Substantive posts will transfer and at the end of the secondment period in accordance with the secondment agreement in place staff will return to their substantive post.

Fixed term contracts at the point of transfer will transfer to the new organisation.

Any differences in bandings, or any future changes will be communicated by GMMH and where applicable would be subject to organisational change processes. Details of any proposed or envisaged changes (measures) have been provided.

GMMH do not have their own internal bank and use the services of NHS Professionals (NHSP).

Any staff who are currently registered on NWBH bank or any bank only workers who undertake shifts within Wigan services have been communicated with and given the opportunity to transfer to NHSP with effect from 1 April to continue to bank for GMMH.

GMMH offers the opportunity for staff to purchase up to two weeks additional annual leave to be deducted from their monthly salary. For the 2021/22 annual leave year it has been agreed to honour existing agreements for NWBH staff who transfer on 1 April 2021, however this will only be for the initial request made prior to the transfer date, there will not be a second opportunity at six months. After this the GMMH scheme will apply for further leave years.

Corporate staff are based at the Curve in Prestwich however GMMH have a homeworking agreement where staff can be based from home for up to 50% of their working week.

There are no proposals to make changes to the administration structure.

Nothing will change in terms of the sites staff cover now unless staff volunteer to work at an alternative base.

In the first instance staff will discuss with their line manager what specific support is required during the transition period so individual needs can be met. The disability staff network have talked about the importance of supporting staff with disabilities ahead of the transaction. Discussions with staff who may have reasonable adjustments in place have taken place to have these acknowledged and supported when they transfer. All the usual support the Trust offer will continue to be available.

There is information on StaffZone on the consultation page. Assistant Directors and Corporate leads have been sent information to support them in running their own local consultation meetings. There is the central inbox for queries to be sent to and there is your People and Organisational Development Business Partner who can be contacted for advice and support.

At GMMH in relation to flexible working requests during Covid-19 anyone who needs additional flexibility are encouraged to discuss with line managers in the first instance. There is also a guidance provided by GMMH that gives more information. 

All terms and conditions will transfer fully to GMMH and anyone who has Mental Health Officer status will transfer with them.  The conditions pensions remain as they would be if still a North West Boroughs employee.

All terms and conditions will transfer fully to GMMH and this includes start dates with NBWH for continuous service purposes. The period of protection within the policy is based on Continuous NHS Service and not just service with NWBH.

Enhancements are in line with Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions so will remain the same.

HR at GMMH are already putting the appropriate measures in place to ensure that individuals are provided with the information relating to auto enrolment and the options they have. There will be no requirement for new starter forms as ESR data will transfer to the new payroll provider

The Occupational Health provider will change to People Asset Management (PAM).

Face to face Occupational Health appointments do take into consideration the post code of where staff addresses are. Some appointments can be done over the phone and due to the pandemic at present telephone consultations are being completed. There are also clinics across the North West including Bolton, Trafford, and Stockport.

Overtime is not contractual this should be discussed in the first instance with line managers.

Upon transfer to GMMH you will lose access to any historical pay documents on ESR (payslips, P60, total reward statements) this is due to the ESR system and is outside of our control.

Once you commence with GMMH new payslips will be generated and you will be able to access these on the self service area of ESR.

You will need to ensure you access your ESR employee self-service portal prior to the transfer date and download all the documents you require.

P11D forms will be produced by STHK Employment Services on behalf of NWBH. The P11D form will be sent to your home address that is recorded in ESR by the 6 July 2021.

P60 forms will be produced by STHK Employment Services on behalf of NWBH. The P60 will be sent to home addresses that are recorded in ESR by the 31 May 2021.

East Lancashire Financial Services are the payroll providers for GMMH.

The pay date will change to 26 of the month. Employees will receive their first pay from GMMH on 26 April 2021.

The only group affected about enhancements will be staff whose pay rate is below the Living Wage foundation level. GMMH is a Living Wage Employer and therefore will ensure any staff transferring who currently earn less than the living wage foundation rate will be moved to the minimum salary equivalent to the minimum hourly rate which is currently £9.50 per hour. The Trust implements the annual increase on the 1 April each year. The Trust has an agreement that enhancement percentages are adjusted to ensure parity with other bands.

Any overpayments set up from payroll will continue from salaries post transfer until the agreed repayment period has ceased.

The Childcare voucher provider is Fideliti any staff who are currently in the childcare voucher scheme will continue to remain in the scheme.

Cycle to work – any outstanding amounts will be transferred to GMMH and will continue to be deducted from employee’s salaries.

Car parking is not a contractual issue and will not therefore be reimbursed.

Parking charges for GMMH staff on 37.5 hours (this is reduced for part time staff) are; Band 1-4  - £8 per month, Bands 4 (top two spine points ) to (bottom spine points) band 7 - £12 per month, Bands 7 (top two spine points) – and over - £20 per month. For staff where Prestwich is not the usual base, i.e. attending for training or meetings pay for the length of their stay and claim it back via the usual expenses process.

All existing assets, including IT Kit and chairs, will transfer to GMMH therefore staff members will retain their existing items working from home.

GMMH have a homeworking deal and process guidance.

With the exception of HR policies that are considered to be contractual, employees will transfer onto equivalent GMMH policies. GMMH will accept the following policies to be contractual:

• Disciplinary.

• Grievance (Resolution).

• Pay Protection Section of the Organisational Change Policy.

• Promoting Attendance (only for anyone being actively managed under the policy at the point of transfer).

• Retirement.

• Worklife Balance – only in relation to any existing agreements that are in place with regards to flexible working. New applications will need to be made under GMMH’s policy. 

• Medical Staff Responding to Concerns and Disciplinary Policy and Procedure.

• Day time and out of hours protocol - although this policy is not deemed contractual, GMMH will adopt this document and continue to work with it following the transfer to ensure the safe and consistent operation of the out of hours cover.