Let’s make bank work better

A bank contract is essentially a zero-hour contract which allows a worker to undertake periods of work with an NHS employer. The contracts are designed so that the worker is under no obligation to take work and the employer is under no obligation to provide work.  

There is no national bank contract and therefore the contract is a local set of terms offered by each NHS employer to its workers. 

People are paid for the hours they work, which is normally based on a fixed point in the equivalent NHS Terms and Conditions pay band, plus relevant unsocial hours payments. Bank workers are entitled to holiday pay which is normally rolled up into the hourly rate (around 12.07% to make it consistent with statutory leave). Bank workers are not provided with annual leave but expected to comply with the Working Time Directive to ensure they take minimum holidays and rest periods. 

What employers do in relation to bank staff depends on the terms and conditions they are employed on. Bank contracts often reflect NHS pay rates and we expect employers to increase pay rates for bank staff in line with the 2025 NHS pay award. However, employers may not immediately be willing to do this and therefore UNISON branches should encourage bank members to organise collectively around this issue and campaign for commensurate increases to salaries and back pay to 1 April 2025.  

Branches should also want to work with employers to find ways to support bank workers into flexible substantive contracts where this is possible.  

The main benefit is flexibility for both parties. The employer can choose how many bank shifts to offer out and is under no obligation to provide work. The bank worker can choose their shifts according to their needs, providing there are enough shifts. Bank workers might also be able to work for multiple employers under different bank contracts giving them flexibility and variation in their work. 

The main risks are that there may not be enough work, or work in a pattern that suits the worker’s caring or family responsibilities or their lifestyle choices. The worker is also vulnerable to sickness absence because there is no contractual right to paid sick pay. 

If employers do not monitor working hours, there is also a risk that bank workers might work excessive hours across various contracts leading to burn out and long-term health problems. 

Finally, many bank workers do not have the same rights as substantive workers in the event of a complaint or issues being raised and there is also no automatic right to raise a grievance. Branches may want to discuss the barriers that this presents to bank workers feeling able to raise their concerns or speak up through the Freedom to Speak Up Guardians. 

Reasons vary but it is likely that bank workers either want the flexibility that they can’t get through a substantive contract or because they can’t get a substantive contract. Students in training often also have a bank contract to gain experience and pay whilst trying to balance their studies. 

It’s important to know who works on the bank and how to strengthen arguments for staff with protected characteristics. For example, it may be that the bank has more female workers due to the need to balance caring responsibilities and the inflexibility of substantive contracts. 

All bank workers were included in the 2023 NHS Staff Survey which again highlighted the disproportionate numbers of Black workers on insecure bank contracts. It also showed that over 80% of bank workers always and often work in the same departments or work area, and nearly 60% of bank workers always and usually work the same hours/shift patterns each week. For 70% of bank workers their bank work was their main source of income.  

Recent articles have highlighted the discrimination and unfair treatment experienced by bank workers. The Health Service Journal report that  

“Black British bank workers are nearly six times more likely to enter a formal disciplinary, compared to their [substantive] white colleagues, NHS England analysis has found.” 

And the Independent reported that  

“Tens of thousands of NHS workers on zero hour contracts, also called bank staff, have faced “unacceptable” levels of racism” 

The 2022 bank-only staff survey also highlighted race factors for bank workers. 

“Bank only workers are disproportionately likely to have ethnic minority backgrounds, with more than one in three bank workers being in ethnic minority groups according to data included in NHS supplementary information files, equality and diversity measures (2019). NHS workforce race equality standard (WRES) data shows that currently 24.2% of all NHS staff are from ethic minority backgrounds”. 

Although related to outsourcing, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that insecure work and poorer pay and terms and conditions disproportionately affect lower-paid ethnic minority workers: 

“The commissioning-out of adult social care, and outsourcing of some roles in health, has resulted in more insecure work and poorer pay and terms and conditions than for those directly working for the public sector, disproportionately affecting lower-paid ethnic minority workers who are more likely to be working in these indirectly employed roles in adult social care.” 

The report reminds employers of their duty to take ownership and accountability for the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) by undertaking and publishing evidence-based Equality Impact Assessments. 

Employers need to put their money where their mouths are. We hear from bank workers about being treated differently from substantive staff by their employer. This includes employers not automatically upgrading salaries following the 2024 pay award or paying the 2022/2023 lump sum payment to bank workers. 

UNISON believes that employers should demonstrate that they value bank workers by improving their terms to make them equal to substantive staff.