Claimant v NHS Lanarkshire

Outcome

Facts

Mrs Taylor was employed by NHS Lanarkshire as a Health Centre Administrator Band 4 from 2006 to 2023. Four colleagues in the North West locality successfully applied for re-banding from Band 4 to Band 5, with the outcome effective from 2016 but communicated in December 2022. Mrs Taylor believed she should automatically receive the same re-banding. A collective re-banding application was prepared for remaining Health Centre Administrators in 2023, but Mrs Taylor refused to sign it because management would only agree an effective date of January 2023 rather than 2016. She resigned in December 2023 before the application was submitted. Her colleagues' application later succeeded with the January 2023 effective date.

Decision

The tribunal dismissed the claim. It held that Mrs Taylor's contract incorporated the Agenda for Change re-banding policy, which required her as postholder to apply for re-banding and reach agreement with management on significant changes and the effective date. There was no contractual term providing that a successful re-banding by one cohort automatically applied to others. Mrs Taylor did not complete the re-banding process under the policy and remained Band 4 when she resigned. The respondent had not breached the contract.

Practical note

Legal authorities cited