Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS staff who are assaulted at work do not face (a) loss of pay, (b) punitive attendance management processes and (c) risk of dismissal while recovering from injuries sustained in the course of their duties.

NHS trusts are independent employers that have their own policies and procedures for managing staff sickness absence. Sickness absence policies and procedures should be fair, reasonable and comply with existing employment legislation.

For all NHS staff, including those on the Agenda for Change (AfC) contract and medical contracts, the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook provides entitlement of up to 6 months full and six months half occupational sick pay when staff are too ill to work. The Handbook also states that when calculating an employee’s sick pay entitlement, absence caused by injuries attributable to NHS employment will be disregarded and should not count toward sickness absence totals.

Where NHS staff are off work due to a work-related injury or illness, they may be eligible for NHS injury allowance. Injury allowance tops up pay to 85% of an individual’s earnings for up to 12 months when on reduced pay or half pay.

To address variance in how NHS organisations manage sickness absence attendance, NHS England is currently working to develop a ‘Supporting Attendance’ Human Resources policy framework. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/future-of-human-resources-and-organisational-development/nhs-people-policy-frameworks/