Agenda for Change
Overview
Agenda for Change is a pay system for the NHS ensuring fair pay and a clearer system for career progression. Started in 2003, it provides the most radical shake up of the NHS pay system since the NHS began in 1948, applying to all directly employed NHS staff with the exception of doctors, dentists and some very senior managers.
Three core elements make up Agenda for Change:
- Job evaluation - matching jobs to national profiles, or evaluating jobs locally, to determine pay bands for posts.
- Harmonised terms and conditions - e.g. movement to a 37.5 hour week and agreed levels of basic annual leave.
- Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) - an organisational tool for describing the knowledge and skills staff need to apply at work in order to deliver high quality services; includes annual system of review and development for staff.
National Job Profiles
An NHS Job Evaluation Scheme allows most NHS jobs to be matched to nationally evaluated profiles on the basis of information from job descriptions, person specifications and additional information. Job profiles work on the basis that there are posts in the NHS which are fairly standard, having many common features. A number of job profiles have been defined for Information Management & Technology.
Knowledge and Skills Framework
The NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (NHS KSF) is designed as the learning part of pay modernisation and gives clear information about how each post fits into the wider NHS structure. It sets out the knowledge and skills required from new recruits and experienced staff members in each role, with specific examples of how these should be applied.
The NHS KSF also offers the opportunity to demonstrate and discuss personal strengths and aspirations and to explore how these talents can be unlocked and developed within current or future roles. It provides universal recognition that all staff are entitled to development opportunities, either within their current posts or to help them achieve career development, and indicates the duty of managers and organisations to support this principle.
The NHS KSF promotes a culture that allows people to develop flexibly as individuals, recognising that there are many alternative career pathways and timescales, and that skills and knowledge can be acquired in many ways and are often transferable.
What does it mean for you?
- Post outlines - describing the knowledge and skills that need to be applied in different posts in the NHS.
- Annual development reviews - giving you the opportunity to discuss how you have applied your knowledge and skills and assisting in identifying learning and development needs.
- Personal development plans - an agreement between staff and reviewers, setting out how learning and development needs will be met.
The NHS KSF is made up of core and job specific dimensions. Core dimensions occur in everyone's job:
- Communications
- Personal and people development
- Health, safety and security
- Service development
- Quality
- Equality, diversity and rights.
24 further dimensions are specific and relate to some jobs and not others. These include information and knowledge dimensions:
| DIMENSIONS | LEVEL DESCRIPTORS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| IK1 | Information Processing | Input, store and provide data and information | Modify, structure, maintain and present data and information | Monitor the processing of data and information | Develop and modify data and information management models and processes |
| IK2 | Information collection and analysis | Collect, collate and report routine and simple data and information | Gather, analyse and report a limited range of data and information | Gather, analyse, interpret and present extensive and/or complex data and information | Plan, develop and evaluate methods and processes for gathering, analysing, interpreting and presenting data and information |
| IK3 | Knowledge and information resources | Access, appraise and apply knowledge and information | Maintain knowledge and information resources and help others to access and use them | Organise knowledge and information resources and provide information to meet needs | Develop the acquisition, organisation, provision and use of knowledge and information |
All KSF post outlines are made up of the core dimensions and around 3-6 specific dimensions.
Each dimension of the KSF is expanded by a series of level descriptors (such as in the table above). These show successively more advanced knowledge and skill and/or the increasing complexity of application of knowledge and skills to the demands of work. Each level builds on the preceding level(s). The number of level descriptors varies from one dimension to another.
An e-KSF tool assists the creation and management of post outlines. Whilst there are no centrally determined KSF post outlines (because similar jobs in different organisations tend to vary in their skill requirements) a library of approved outlines is available via the e-KSF that are considered good examples for organisations to use as a reference in the development of your own.
Take as much time as you can on the NHS KSF as this informs your personal and professional development and will help you plan and develop into your career.
Resources
- A Health Informatics Career Framework (HICF) was launched in early 2008. It is designed to help individuals map out their own careers and assist organisations with workforce planning. The HICF, a joint initiative between Informing Healthcare (Wales) and NHS Connecting for Health (England), aligns job roles to the National Occupational Standards and NHS KSF. Both organisations are committed to further development of the product, to include additional job roles such as hybrid roles in SHAs and PCTs which are not fully captured in the current version.
- Health Informatics functional map (PDF, 640Kb) - describes the broad work activities that take place across the Health Informatics sector. The map was developed in 2004.
- In the Skills for Health competence databases, there are completed standards and competences for roles in health, with links to relevant NHS KSF dimension. The site also offers a number of tools available to help you find competencies, measure competence and develop job descriptions.
Further Information
Department of Health pages on Agenda for Change
NHS Employers pages on Agenda for Change. NHS Employers is responsible for representing the views of employers in national negotiations on Agenda for Change and provides support and assistance for trusts introducing the new systems through the Agenda for Change Implementation Team.