Guaranteed hours reforms could affect health and social care staffing gaps

Concerns have been raised about the effect of guaranteed hours reforms on the health and social care sector.

It’s argued that temporary workers help employers to respond to seasonal spikes, short-term pressures and unpredictable demand.

Should reforms affect the health and social care sector, this will create continued pressure on the NHS.

Guaranteed Hours Proposals

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) is the latest organisation to raise concerns about the proposals, after warnings from NHS employers and the NHS Alliance.

The REC states that the proposals requiring employers to offer eligible zero- or low-hour workers a contract reflecting the regular hours they worked over a specific reference period could be a hammer blow to the two-way flexibility needed in the health and social care sectors.

The worker shortages in both sectors, combined with short-notice needs for additional staff, are a mainstay of how the health and social care sectors manage their workforce needs.

Reforms Could Discourage Agencies and Flexible Workers from Accepting Assignments

The REC makes the point that requiring guaranteed hours and compensation for cancelled shifts at short notice could prevent agencies and temporary workers from accepting flexible assignments.

This will have a knock-on effect by reducing the pool of staff available to cover sickness, vacancies and unexpected surges in demand.

Neil Carberry, REC Chief Executive, explained, “When health and social care providers cannot fill gaps quickly, patients pay the price through reduced access to safe and timely care.

“At a time when services are already under intense pressure, reducing workforce flexibility risks leaving patients to bear the consequences.”

Carberry added, “The government keeps threatening to end agency use in the NHS in a misguided effort to save costs despite limited evidence that the consequences around access to a skilled workforce have been properly considered.

“Yet its guaranteed hours gamble could do far more to drive up costs, making agency work less viable and stripping services of the emergency cover they rely on to keep patients safe.

“The guaranteed hours changes could significantly limit the choice and flexibility that health and social care workers seek when working through agencies.

“If a nurse does a regular shift at a hospital once or twice a week over a few months, that does not mean they want that to continue indefinitely or that their own preferences around when and how much they work won’t vary over time.

“Many workers may decide agency work is no longer worth the hassle and leave the sector altogether. Despite the need for agency workers, the result is potentially fewer agencies, fewer temporary workers and fewer options for services struggling to fill gaps at short notice.”

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