Agenda for Change
Agenda for Change (AfC) is the current National Health Service (NHS) grading and pay system for all NHS staff, with the exception of doctors, dentists and some senior managers. It covers more than 1 million people and harmonises their pay scales and career progression arrangements across traditionally separate pay groups, in the most radical change since the NHS was founded.
It came into operation on 1 December 2004, following agreement between the unions, employers and governments involved.
Job evaluation
The AfC system allocates posts to set pay bands by giving consideration to aspects of the job, such as the skills involved, under an NHS Job Evaluation Scheme. There are nine numbered pay bands subdivided into points, similar to the old alphabetic Whitley Council 'grades' pay scales. A set of national job profiles has been agreed to assist in the process of matching posts to pay bands. All staff will either be matched to a national job profile, or their job will be evaluated locally. In theory, AfC is designed to evaluate the job rather than the person in it, and to ensure equity between similar posts in different areas. In reality it has been implemented differently in different places, and some posts have been graded very differently from similar jobs elsewhere, despite the supposedly tighter definitions. Around 5% of staff have appealed their gradings, but again the appeals process varies from site to site. Current indications suggest that lower bandings are being used in London and Scotland than elsewhere in the country.
