Collective Representation

As the only union specifically for management grades, MiP represents managers across the UK’s four health services, negotiating on your behalf with local employers and national bodies, including the Department of Health and Social Care and the health departments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

MiP also represents you on a host of national committees, working groups and partnership forums which have an big influence on your career and the quality of your working life.

Working alongside other trade unions, MiP negotiates with employers and government bodies to:

• protect and improve your pay and conditions
• promote staff wellbeing and healthy workplaces
• advance equality at work and tackle discrimination
• raise professional standards and improve patient care
• protect and promote the values of the NHS

As a pragmatic and values-based trade union, we always negotiate with a view to reaching agreement, aiming to get the best possible deal for you, while safeguarding the public interest and the values of the NHS. While robustly defending your interests, we try to avoid unnecessary conflict in the workplace and to reach agreement through co-operation and partnership working wherever possible.

Negotiating with employers

For most MiP members, pay and core terms and conditions are negotiated nationally with government health departments or arm’s-length bodies like NHS Employers and NHS Pensions. But negotiations with individual employers are increasingly important – more and more terms and conditions are being set locally and your employer has a big say over how national agreements are applied in your organisation.

MiP works alongside other healthcare unions to represent members and negotiate directly with employers such as:

• Clinical Commissioning Groups
• NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts
• Accountable Care Organisations and devolved health and care systems
• Health and social care boards in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• NHS England
• Regulators, such as the Care Quality Commission and Monitor
• Other system bodies like NHS Improvement, NHS Digital and Health Education England
• Independent providers of healthcare, including private companies and not-for-profit organisations

Employers consult and negotiate with MiP over a range of important issues, including:

• Job evaluation and grading
• Organisational change
• Redundancies and transfers
• Health and safety
• Staff wellbeing
• Training and development policies
• Disciplinary and grievance procedures
• Bullying and harassment policies
• Equality and anti-discrimination policies
• Staff benefits

In most cases, negotiations with individual employers take place within the Joint Negotiation Consultative Committee (JNCC) or an equivalent body, which brings together trade unions and employer representatives to discuss workforce policy and resolve disputes. MiP will usually be represented by the national officer for your area, or by one of your colleagues acting as an MiP link member or rep. In smaller organisations, MiP members may be represented by UNISON reps or full-time officers.

National Social Partnership Forums

MiP represents you on the National Social Partnership Forum (SPF) in England, and the equivalent bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Based on the German model of industrial relations, the SPF brings together trade unions, employers, government health departments, regulators and system bodies to discuss the development and implementation of workforce policies in NHS.

The SPF is chaired by a health minister, and MiP has a seat alongside 15 other unions with members working in the NHS.

The SPF develops policies and lays down guidelines for employers on issues such as:

• Workforce planning
• Skills, training and development
• Staff recruitment and retention
• Productivity and efficiency
• Safe staffing levels
• Workplace culture
• Tackling discrimination and bullying
• Organisational change

The SPF works through a number of sub-groups, which meet regularly to develop policies and discuss issues in detail. MiP chief executive Jon Restell is co-chair of the Workforce Issues Group and a member of the Strategic Group.

MiP’s work on the SPF is valuable to you: it gives us the chance debate workforce issues with ministers and senior officials, challenge manager-bashing at the highest levels and build constructive working relationships with other trade unions and NHS employers.

The SPF is not a bargaining forum. Negotiations on changes to contractual arrangements for NHS staff take place within the NHS Staff Council.

NHS Staff Council

The NHS Staff Council covers all four nations of the UK and is responsible for the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay and grading system, and the core terms and conditions of NHS staff. Within the Staff Council, representatives of NHS employers and trade unions negotiate and agree changes to AfC and the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook.

MiP is represented on the Staff Council through the National Staff Side, which includes all unions with significant numbers of members working in the NHS. The National Staff Side agrees a joint pay claim each year and oversees negotiations within the Staff Council on behalf of the unions.

Through both the Staff Council and the National Staff Side, MiP works to influence the debate and shape policy specifically from a manager’s perspective – something no other union is in a position to do.

Other bodies

MiP chief executive Jon Restell has been appointed to the NHS Pension Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) by the Secretary of State for Health. He represents managers in detailed discussions about changes to the various pension schemes operating in the NHS.

Jon is also a member of the Strategic Advisory Group for the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) which oversees implementation and monitoring of the WRES, which aims to improve the representation of black and minority ethic (BME) staff among senior managers in the NHS.

MiP vice chair Zoeta Manning is a member of the BME Senior Influencers Group of the NHS Leadership Academy, which works to promote diversity within NHS leadership and provide a support network for senior BME leaders.