It’s emerging that hundreds of overseas NHSE staff face losing their jobs with no compensation.
Civil Service recruitment rules mean overseas NHS England staff, not born in the UK, may not be able to work as civil servants, could be made redundant and are facing uncertainty due to the NHS England redundancy programme…
The NHS England redundancy programme has raised questions about job security and the future for many.
Understanding the implications of the NHS England redundancy programme is crucial for all affected staff.
The uncertainties of the NHS England redundancy programme have left many feeling vulnerable.
Navigating the NHS England Redundancy Programme
The ongoing challenges surrounding the NHS England redundancy programme have raised significant concerns…
… questions remain over whether all affected staff will qualify for redundancy compensation or redeployment protections.
The fact nobody seems able to explain clearly what protections apply tells you everything about how badly prepared this process appears to be.
Many are left wondering how the NHS England redundancy programme will reshape the workforce.
A few hundred people. An HR anomaly? An unfortunate technicality?
The ongoing NHS England redundancy programme has made staff question their future roles.
No.
It is symbolic of a much bigger problem.
The shambolic way the DH+ appears to be handling what may become one of the biggest white-collar redundancy programmes in modern British history, with the potential for 18,000 redundancies and no obvious funding apart from ‘operational savings’.
As argued in Itself, major NHS restructuring risks creating capability gaps when workforce reductions are implemented before replacement structures are fully designed.
British Airways’ plan to shed 12,000 staff during Covid caused national outrage and parliamentary inquiries. The NHS restructuring now under way is potentially bigger.
The people caught in this latest row are not faceless.
They are programme managers, analysts, digital specialists, clinicians, finance experts, policy staff and administrators.
They are not here taking anyone’s job.
The DH+ now looks as though it is intent on taking theirs away.
They have worked here. Put in the hard yards here. Taken work home at weekends here. Made sense of bonkers policy here.
The effects of the NHS England redundancy programme are likely to be felt for years to come.
Now some are discovering that although they were employable enough for the NHS, they may not be employable enough for the civil service structures replacing it.
Nothing has changed.
They have not. Their skills have not. Their jobs have not.
Only the organisation chart and perhaps the migration statistics and murky policy.
That tells us something important.
This reorganisation was announced politically long before it was understood operationally.
Senior civil servants, NHS leaders and the organisations that represent them should have said: “Whoa… slow down… let’s plan this.”
Instead, they did not want to risk their jobs, their status and their need to be ‘in the tent’, so they fawned and complied.
Immigration status, redundancy rights, pension implications, redeployment rules and civil service eligibility appear to have been trashed.
Many staff members are anxiously following developments related to the NHS England redundancy programme.
The risks around workforce morale and long-term resilience were also highlighted in Relations, where dependence on workforce substitution and system redesign raises serious concerns about organisational stability.
If hundreds of people are trapped in confusion and uncertainty, what confidence should anyone have about the handling of the other thousands?
The atmosphere inside parts of the system is already deeply unsettled.
Reports linking at least one suicide to the stress surrounding the process cast a long shadow over everything.
The very existence of concerns like this tells us how febrile the situation has become.
Private-sector organisations undertaking mass redundancies usually build huge support structures around the process:
- Specialist HR teams
- Counselling
- Legal support
- Transition planning
- Internal communications
- Carefully managed consultation
Instead, this feels improvised.
Rushed.
Reactive.
The danger is not only unfairness to staff.
Critics argue that the NHS England redundancy programme lacks proper communication and support.
The bigger danger is organisational trauma and the loss of status as an employer.
When staff see colleagues treated badly, uncertainty spreads everywhere.
Productivity falls. Sickness absence rises. People stop taking decisions.
The ramifications of the NHS England redundancy programme could affect the entire health system.
The best staff quietly leave because they know they can.
Those who remain become cautious, fearful and distrustful.
As explored in Worse, workforce relations become increasingly fragile when trust between staff and leadership begins to break down.
Addressing issues tied to the NHS England redundancy programme is essential for maintaining morale.
All this is happening while ministers expect the NHS simultaneously to improve productivity, reduce waiting lists, adopt AI, reform neighbourhood care and avoid further industrial action.
That is not transformation.
The complexity of the NHS England redundancy programme requires careful management and oversight.
The success of the NHS England redundancy programme hinges on transparent communication.
It is overload.
The NHS has always known how to recruit people at scale.
What this episode suggests is that the centre has very little idea how to let people go at scale, legally, competently or humanely.
Before another redundancy notice is issued, this process needs to pause.
The DH+ needs experienced industrial relations leadership, specialist HR capability and clear legal accountability for the transfer process.
The wider consequences of workforce disruption mirror concerns raised in Prepared, where NHS resilience, workforce dependence and long-term planning failures are examined in detail.
As the NHS England redundancy programme progresses, many fear for their jobs.
At the moment, hundreds of staff appear trapped in a bureaucratic limbo entirely of the system’s own making.
Ultimately, the NHS England redundancy programme has sparked discussions about workforce stability.
Every NHS employee watching this unfold is drawing their own conclusions about loyalty, trust and whether the system would stand by them if their turn came next.
When a system starts treating loyal colleagues as administrative problems…
… everyone else begins to wonder when it will be their turn to be a problem.
News and Comment from Roy Lilley
Contact Roy – please use this e-address roy.lilley@nhsmanagers.net
Reproduced at thetrainingnet.com by kind permission of Roy Lilley.
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