Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of job evaluation scores for pharmacy assistants.

This specific assessment has not been made.

Agenda for Change pay is underpinned by the Job Evaluation Scheme (JES). This scheme was developed through collaboration between National Health Service leaders, NHS trade unions, and independent job evaluation experts. The JES is a structured method of comparing job demands and seeks to ensure that staff receive equal pay for work of equal value.

The JES focuses on the demands of the role as set out in the job documentation, for example the job description and person specification, and not the skills and knowledge an individual has. The requirements, as set out in the job documentation, are then analysed using the JES to determine the relative job demand, or weight, of the role which in turn determines which pay band the role sits in. This model of weighting has been legally tested and proven to be robust.

All local employing organisations are responsible for correctly and consistently implementing the JES to ensure staff are paid correctly for the work they are asked to deliver.

The NHS Staff Council’s Job Evaluation Group is responsible for maintaining the national role profiles that are used to support job evaluation practice.