St Andrew’s Hospital responds to union’s threat of taking action over redundancy pay changes

St Andrew’s Hospital in Northampton has labelled recent accusations of seeking to make changes to staff contracts without union agreement as “inaccurate”.

UNISON, the union representing staff at St Andrew’s Hospital, claimed that the private mental healthcare provider sought to impose changes to redundancy and pay protection terms in the contracts of nearly 350 members of staff - with further changes also pending - without consulting UNISON beforehand.

Union officials also alleged that staff had been threatened that anyone who refused to sign new contracts could see their employment terminated.

A spokesperson for St Andrew’s Hospital said: “We have absolutely no plans to make mass redundancies, and are concerned that the UNISON’s statement may cause distress to our staff, who have no reason to worry about their future.

“As the Chronicle & Echo have previously reported, we have been rightsizing our charity this year, reducing the number of inpatients we care for in our hospitals and we’re proud to have redeployed everyone at our Northampton site who wanted to stay at St Andrew’s as part of this process.

“There is also a nationwide shortage of nurses and healthcare assistants and we currently have vacancies for many roles, including Healthcare Assistants and Nurses. Therefore talk of mass redundancies and reorganisations is not only inaccurate, it makes no sense.”

St Andrew’s Hospital is currently in consultation with around 10 per cent of their staff, having discussions with them as well as trade unions regarding possible changes to their contracts.

These staff members are currently subject to historic terms and conditions - also known as Whitley - which the NHS phased out in 2004. St Andrew’s Hospital feels that all staff should have the same terms and conditions.

The spokesperson for St Andrew’s Hospital continued: “We have had a positive meeting with UNISON today and hope that this will continue as we seek to address their concerns. We have a strong track record of working with and listening to both our staff and the unions and this has resulted in a number of positive changes, including improving sick pay to six months full pay and increasing the wages for our lowest-paid staff.

“Following today's meeting with UNISON, we can announce that we are proposing to double our redundancy pay for all those who earn the least. We hope this reassures our staff and the unions that we have no plans to make mass redundancies within the Charity.”

Since today’s meeting between St Andrew’s Hospital and the union representing their staff, the regional organiser for UNISON, Gareth Eales, has also made a statement.

He said: “Surprisingly things seemed to have shifted today. We are soon to be in receipt of some new proposals in writing, at which time further negotiations can take place. As a union we will strive to achieve a satisfactory deal that benefits our members and one that can offer reassurance about job security at St Andrew’s.

“UNISON regrets these moves were not made by the charity earlier, but have small cause for optimism. The devil will though be in the detail and our ballot of members remains on the table.”