Newly qualified radiographers who have moved jobs after a year or more in post could be missing out on back pay from their original employers, an SoR rep has revealed.
The introduction of section 1 paragraph 1.8 of Agenda for Change means all newly qualified radiographers appointed on pay band 5 should have moved up from their first incremental point at six months rather than twelve months, which is what has happened up until now.
However, some Trusts have been slow to implement the arrangement. Band 5 radiographers who were in the Trust’s employ, but have since left, may therefore be eligible to apply for back pay for this incremental point.
Robin Bickerton, a radiographer and SoR IR rep at Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, has just concluded negotiations to win back pay owing to newly qualified radiographers at his Trust. But, he says, many colleagues who moved jobs in the first year of preceptorship may be missing out.
“If people started after AfC as band 5 radiographers they should have moved one incremental point in their first six months in post, but if this did not happen and they have since left their original Trust and taken up another job they may still be owed money.”
Robin says some could be due hundreds of pounds. He says managers should encourage their staff to investigate: “For the price of a letter it is worth these people writing to their previous Trust to look into what you are owed.
"I am aware of several people from my hospital who have moved on to other jobs, but not yet claimed their back pay. In Trusts with a high turnover of staff there could be even more people eligible.”
