Publish date: 24 February 2022
Dear All,
I wanted to write to you with an update on an additional retention payment the divisional operational leads have been working on for some time, which is now approved through the Trust’s governance process.
The division is acutely aware of the changes that you are seeing and feeling on the Whalley site. On reflection, when Woodview closed in November 2020 I had personally envisaged a period of time that would allow everyone some breathing space before the next chapter of the Whalley site retraction began. The reality has been quite the opposite, the breathing space was short lived! I am sure our continued response to Covid and being in Business Continuity has distracted, making the time between the closure of Woodview and today seem much less. From a Divisional perspective, we are now clearly in the next phase of retraction.
As a Division and clearly supported by the Trust Executive Team we strive to maintain stability in the workforce on Whalley. We continue to recruit staff into the vacant roles, all of which allows Whalley to continue to provide the Outstanding care as rated by the CQC.
In order to assist in the outstanding care being maintained, it has been agreed that a retention payment of £600 per year be paid to all staff on the Whalley site, who are not currently in receipt of an existing retention premium. This payment will be paid in twice yearly, £300 payments, these payments will be backdated to November 2021. This premium is unique to the Whalley site whilst a Mersey Care area of work, it will not transfer with staff if they choose to work in other areas of the Trust, or transfer to other NHS providers.
As a retention premium there are a number of AfC conditions that will be outlined in a separate correspondence. For now, though, we will make preparations with Payroll to have this placed in your accounts as soon as practicable.
I want to, at this point, thank you for your continued support to the service users we care for on the Whalley site, I will look to send further communications to you about the next phase of the retraction process and the Low Secure build at Maghull Health Park.
Regards
Steve Newton
Chief Operating Officer
Secure and Specialist Learning Disability Division