Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what financial support is available to NHS Bank staff who have to self-isolate but are not entitled to Statutory Sick Pay.

Guidance published by NHS Employers states that National Health Service bank staff should receive full pay for all pre-booked bank shifts they would have worked had they not needed to self-isolate due to COVID-19. Trusts may also choose to pay bank staff in self-isolation on a ‘look back’ approach, where a bank staff member’s past earnings over a reference period would be used as a basis for calculating full pay.

Where a bank staff member needs to self-isolate and there is no way to assess full pay, due to staff not having any pre-booked shifts or insufficient previous earnings, trusts will need to assess what a reasonable benchmark would be to set full pay at. Guidance issued by the Government to employers states that they should use their usual methods for calculating full pay using agreed processes at a local level and in line with NHS terms and conditions.