The limits on the hourly pay rate for agency staff have been announced by NHS England.
The cuts will be gradually reduced, first there will be caps from 23 November 2015, then there will be further caps enforced from 1 February, and the final cuts from 1 April 2015.
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In June, Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for health, said that expensive agencies are “ripping off the NHS” and new rules will mean NHS organisations can only recruit non-permanent staff from approved agencies, and there will be caps on agency spending.
The price caps are the maximum total hourly rate that trusts may pay for an agency worker, excluding VAT. These are maximum rates – trusts are expected to continue to secure lower rates for most transactions.
The caps apply to all clinical and non-clinical agency staff, and include details for pay caps in fringe high cost areas, and inner and outer London.
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For example, from April the maximum hourly rate for band one day staff will drop by over £3 from £15.70 to £12.17.
For band two day staff the maximum charge will be £18.19 from today, cut to £14.10 from April 2015, a 22.48% pay decrease from November to April.
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For band three day staff the day rate will drop from a maximum £19.89 hourly pay rate this November to £15.42 in April 2016, a 22.7% cut in hourly pay.
See the full tables here
