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Home  »   Latest News   »   PDA agrees 2023 pay settlement with Hallo Healthcare

PDA agrees 2023 pay settlement with Hallo Healthcare

In March, PDA negotiators reached an agreement on the annual pay review for pharmacists employed by LloydsPharmacy and other Hallo Healthcare companies where the PDA is recognised to negotiate.

Wed 19th April 2023 The PDA

PDA Union National Officer and Lead Negotiator for the PDA Negotiations at LloydsPharmacy, Paul Moloney sent the following update for members employed at the company on 28 March.

Dear colleagues, 

I wrote to members on 16 March explaining that we had not made any progress on reaching an agreement on this year’s pay increase and asked members if they wanted us to register a dispute with the company, which ultimately could lead to industrial action. The vast majority of members who responded wanted us to do this.

I am pleased to report, however, that after communicating this strength of feeling to the company we have been able to progress matters. I am now writing to advise on the outcome of the 2023 Pay Review for pharmacists covered by the PDA Union recognition agreement. 

After a series of meetings, your PDA Union negotiating team have accepted the company’s final offer which is as follows:

1. A non-consolidated lump sum of 3.5% payable in April to everyone in the bargaining unit, including those at threat of redundancy or transfer. Only those who have voluntarily resigned and are working their notice on 1 April will not qualify for the payment. Anyone who voluntarily resigns from 2 April onwards will receive this payment in full.

2. A second non-consolidated lump sum of 2.25% payable in October for everyone in the bargaining unit, including those at threat of redundancy or transfer, employed on 1 October. Only those who have voluntarily resigned and are working their notice on 1 October will not qualify for this payment. Anyone voluntarily resigning from 2 October onwards will receive this payment in full.

3. The continuation of the 1.5 times basic pay, overtime rate.

Members are asked to note the following important points in relation to this offer:

1. The only people not eligible for these lump sums if employed on the relevant dates are those working their notice, having resigned prior to 1 April or 1 October.

2. Anyone under threat of redundancy or notice of redundancy will receive the April payment if they are employed on 1 April and the October payment if employed on 1 October.

3. Anyone TUPE transferred between 1 April and 30 September will receive the October payment from their new employer as this payment transfers to a new employer as part of your contract of employment. LloydsPharmacy have confirmed all new employers will be advised of this prior to any sale taking place.

4. Anyone not at threat of redundancy or transfer and is not working their notice on either 1 April or 1 October will receive these payments.

It is important for us to stress why we have agreed these payments should be non-consolidated lump sum payments this year, rather than added to salary.

We believe that for many of our members there is considerable uncertainty about their long-term future with the company with many facing potential redundancy or transfer to new owners.

By structuring the deal in this way, we believe we have ensured that members in this position will receive the same benefit from this agreement as those members who will still be with the company this time next year.

Normally the full value of any increase takes 12 months to accrue, essentially in monthly instalments. 

With this agreement, we have ensured members will only need to be employed on 1 April to receive 65% of the value of the deal, in one lump sum. Those who are still employed on 1 October will receive the remainder in October, rather than waiting until March 2024 to accrue the full value of the deal, as would be the case under a traditional percentage pay increase.

In the current circumstances we believe this approach is very much in members interests whether you are facing redundancy, TUPE transfer, choose to resign after 1 April, or intend to stay with the company for the foreseeable future.

Finally, as members would expect, before accepting this offer, we have benchmarked it against other increases and our initial claim.

Our claim was for an increase in line with average earnings across the private sector with the intention of ensuring our members’ salaries remained in line with those in the UK whether achieved through negotiations or strike action. When our claim was submitted that figure was 7% but has subsequently dropped to 5.9%.

We were also aware that the NHS offer now being recommended by NHS trade unions after prolonged strike action is 5% for 2023.

The total value of this deal is 5.75%.

On balance, we, therefore, felt the offer achieves much of what we set out to achieve whilst fully acknowledging it falls below all measures of inflation.

Nevertheless, we took the decision to accept the offer, which was clearly the company’s final offer. It is significantly improved from their initial offer and subsequent offers made during the negotiations. We believe the acceptance of the offer is firmly in the interests of members in view of the particular circumstances of uncertainty that exist at the moment and the need to ensure payment is made as quickly as possible.

Kind regards,

Paul Moloney
PDA Union National Officer and Lead Negotiator

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The Pharmacists' Defence Association is a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England; Company No 4746656.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association is an appointed representative in respect of insurance mediation activities only of
The Pharmacy Insurance Agency Limited which is registered in England and Wales under company number 2591975
and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Register No 307063)

The PDA Union is recognised by the Certification Officer as an independent trade union.

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