Following discussions at a national level, an interim approach was agreed with regard to reducing the working week for part-time staff covering the period from 1 April 2024 until the implementation of the Agenda for Change pay settlement for 2024-25.
This ensured that all staff received the exact pro-rata reduction in minutes they were entitled to whist also ensuring no loss of earnings. The agreement was set out as Annex E of the Reduced Working Week guidance circular PCS(AFC)2024/2.
With the implementation of the Agenda for Change pay settlement from October 2024, this interim approach will cease. A bulk update will be implemented to the relevant systems meaning pay and working time should once again be aligned for all staff. Annex E of PCS(AFC)2024/2 has now been amended to reflect this fact and clarifies that the interim approach ends on 1 October (30 September for weekly paid staff)
The bulk update will not be applied in situations where it would not be appropriate. For instance, where it has been agreed locally that rather than reducing hours pro-rata, a staff member will continue to work their previous hours, with a relevant increase in pay. Or where a staff member’s hours have changed at any point sine 1 April 2024. These situations will be dealt with by their local payroll according to individual circumstances.
For reference, this page will continue to house the documentation which was agreed to support the interim approach i.e. the example of how the interim approach would work in practice. This has now been updated to reflect the impact of the changes to paid hours from 1 October and is available HERE.
And the spreadsheet containing all the relevant figures for the interim approach is available HERE. Column 4 details the exact calculation of pay hours from 1 October 2024.
[In order to use the spreadsheet, the contracted hours in place on 31 March 2024 should be located on the first column. Reading across the row will then provide the key information required to implement the agreed approach at a local level.
The spreadsheet contains two tabs labelled “Abridged Version” and “Full Version”. The abridged version contains the most common pre 1 April 2024 contracted hours. In the vast majority of cases, therefore, the abridged version will provide the information required and it should not be necessary to refer to the full version.]
Click here to return to the main Agenda for Change Review page.