£1m cost of redundancies for 17 Norfolk and Waveney NHS workers
By TOM Bristow, Reporter
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
2:52 PM
An NHS Trust spent a seven-figure sum on making a handful of staff redundant as part of a merger designed to save money.
NHS Norfolk and Waveney Primary Care Trust (PCT) spent £1,091,000 in the last financial year to lay off 17 staff.
The trust said the compulsory redundancies were mainly made as part of Norfolk PCT merging with Great Yarmouth and Waveney to form one PCT last year.
The PCTs, which buy health care contracts for the community, came under the leadership of one executive team, in a move to cut management costs, but it resulted in senior staff leaving and large redundancy payouts.
The trust refused to give out further details about the redundancies, but the payouts amounted to an average of £64,000 per staff member.
Under government rules, NHS staff made redundant should receive one month’s pay for each year they have worked, with a maximum of 24 months of pay.
Unions blamed the government cuts for forcing the expense of making staff redundant on the trust.
Jeff Keighley, Unison’s regional representative for health workers, said: “It was inevitable that they would be paying out this sort of money on redundancy.
“They would be people with a lot of service. It is sad really. If somebody has 24 years of service then the payouts are reasonable.
“You have to understand that these people have employment rights.”
Health minister and North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb said the PCT mergers would save money in the long term.
Compulsory redundancies cost £943,000 for 14 staff at NHS Norfolk and £148,000 for three staff at NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney, according to figures released in Parliament.
Suffolk PCT spent £271,000 on compulsory redundancies last year and Cambridgeshire PCT spent nothing.
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11 comments
Tooksy, I 'm not a lawyer, but I'm sure you have to be in the job for 2 years for redundancy payments. In lieu of notice is probably what you should've got.
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nrg
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
I was made redundant after 15 months and recieved not one penny. Interested to see I should have got a months pay....
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Tooksy
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
smythe: he also denies the ambulance cuts are to do with his government and said he was against the government nhs reforms but never once voted against them.
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nhs lover
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Health minister and North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb said the PCT mergers would save money in the long term. - Lamb also pledged not to vote for tuition fee's for students. I cannot believe a word this man says as Mr Lamb supported NHS cuts in the Comprehensive Spending Review in May 2010
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Farquarson-Smythe
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
How many will now reapply under the new organisations and be reemployed?
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omnishambles
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Wonder how many have already been employed by the newly formed Commissioning Groups?
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Zeus
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Reading between the lines it looks like the middle management with a fair bit of service have jumped ship with a good lump sum and probably a nice plump pension. As for compulsory redundancies, I don't believe a word of it, these look like discretionary redundancies to me, where on the face of it they were made redundant, but in truth they volunteered and who wouldn’t for that sum of money?.
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Joe Mullets Uncle
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
If this is the going rate - please make me redundant as well - I have done 24 years...
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A Resident
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
If this is the going rate - please make me redundant as well - I have done 24 years...
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A Resident
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Norman Lamb and his government were warned about this. They continue to press on with it - dishing out contracts for private firms, sacking nurses, and wasting even more money.
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omnishambles
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Norman Lamb and his government were warned about this. They continue to press on with it - dishing out contracts for private firms, sacking nurses, and wasting even more money.
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omnishambles
Tuesday, November 13, 2012