Staff Recognition Payment – Approach to calculation PSC Communication

This guidance should be read in conjunction with the Department of Health Guidance which

clearly sets out the terms of the Staff Recognition Payment. See link below:

https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/news/hsc-staff-recognition-payment-faqs

When calculating the Staff Recognition Payment, PSC used the following method, in line with the

criteria set out by the DoH, and undertook the following steps:

1. Determined whether you are eligible for payment.

2. Completed a Pro Rata calculation.

3. Examined potential reasons for a reduction in monetary value.

4. Determined which post we would make your payment to.

Eligibility for Payment An employee must satisfy the following criteria to be considered eligible for the Staff Recognition

Payment.

Must have 1 month continuous service during the qualifying period, 17/03/2020 –

31/01/2021.

Pro Rata Calculation PSC calculated how much an employee should receive per post based on a pro rata calculation

looking at the qualifying period.

As each post is identified with a unique employee number, the maximum value an employee could

receive per post was calculated as £735 - when calculating this value we took your contracted hours

and any additional hours worked into consideration.

As the criteria allows for no more than one payment of £735, the value per post was then mapped

to your unique identifier - National Insurance number - to ensure that overall you received no

more than £735 Gross Payment (Tax and National Insurance must be deducted from the payment).

Note: The Staff Recognition Payment is capped at £735 per person regardless of number of posts

and hours worked.

Note: PSC calculated hours worked on a weekly basis and each week was capped at 37.5 hours or 40

hours if you were Medical Staff. This means that if an employee works 60 hours in one week and 20

the following, they would not receive the full payment for those two weeks. This point is illustrated

in example #5.

Here are a number of examples of how the calculations were completed.

1. An employee worked 37.5 hours for the whole qualifying period. This employee is entitled

to:

Entitlement = (1/1 * 1 * £735) = £735

1/1 reflects that the employee worked for the whole qualifying period

1 reflects the employee worked 1 WTE

£735 is the maximum amount available

2. An employee worked 37.5 hours for 3/4 of the qualifying period (Part 1), and then worked

18.75 hours for the remaining qualifying period (Part 2). This employee is entitled to:

Entitlement = Part 1 (3/4 * 1 * £735) + Part 2 (1/4 * 0.5 * £735) = £643.13

Part 1 Part 2

3/4 reflects that the employee worked for ¾ of the qualifying period at this WTE

1 reflects the employee worked 1 WTE

£735 is the maximum amount available

1/4 reflects that the employee worked for ¼ of the qualifying period at this WTE

0.5 reflects the employee worked 0.5 WTE

£735 is the maximum amount available

3. An employee worked 18.75 hours during the whole qualifying period. They also worked an

additional 10 hours each week during the qualifying period. This employee is entitled to:

Entitlement = (1/1 * (28.75/37.5) * £735) = £536.50

1/1 reflects that the employee worked for all of the qualifying period

28.75/37.5 reflects that the employee worked 18.75+10 hours each week

£735 is the maximum amount available

4. An employee worked 30 hours a week during the whole qualifying period. They also worked

an additional 20 hours each week during the qualifying period. This employee is entitled to:

Entitlement = (1/1 * (37.5/37.5) * £735) = £735

1/1 reflects that the employee worked for all of the qualifying period

37.5 hours reflects that maximum hours allowable per week (the 12.5 hours worked above the maximum of 37.5 cannot be taken into account

£735 is the maximum amount available

5. This is the most complicated example and is to demonstrate the Note above. An employee

works 30 hours each week during their qualifying period and during the 2nd half of their

qualifying period they worked an additional 20 hours each week. This employee is entitled

to:

Entitlement = Part 1 (1/2 * (30/37.5) * £735) + Part 2 (1/2 * (37.5/37.5) * £735) = £661.50

Part 1 – first ½ of the qualifying period – employee worked 30 hours p/week

Part 2 – second half of the qualifying period – employee worked 30 + 20 hours per week – capped at 37.5 hours per week

1/2 reflects that the employee’s calculation has been split into two parts across the qualifying period

30/37.5 reflects that the employee worked

1/2 reflects that the employee’s calculation has been split into two parts across the qualifying period

37.5/37.5 reflects the employee’s

30 hours per week

£735 is the maximum amount available

capped hours for this period

£735 is the maximum amount available

Potential Reasons for Reductions in Monetary Value (£) If you have been suspended or dismissed you will not receive any staff recognition payment

money

Non-Executive Board members are excluded

If you were off for the following reasons, you will not receive any money for the proportion

of time you were off:

o Career breaks

o Unpaid Absence/leave

o Nil Pay Sick

o Absence without permission

Note:

Any absence due to maternity does not impact on the payment amount – payment is based

on contracted hours

Any period of sickness absence where the employee is on full or half pay does not impact on

the payment amount – payment is based on contracted hours

Key areas to note You cannot receive more than £735 Gross payment even if you worked more than full time

hours either in your single or multiple employment(s).

The Staff Recognition Payment will be shown on your payslip as a “Non Super Annuable Pay

Ad”. The amount shown is a Gross figure and will be subject to Tax and National Insurance

therefore the Net amount you receive will be reduced accordingly.

Any staff who are no longer employed by the HSCNI and who are entitled to payment in line

with the criteria set out about will receive payment.

Which post you will receive your Payment PSC determined which post to make your staff recognition payment based on the following flow

chart. The first step was to determine whether an employee was single or multiple employment, we

then used the appropriate flowchart outlined below.

Note – for Multiple Employment payment will be made in one post only (but covers all eligible hours

worked)

SE

Single Employment

Yes

Yes

No

No

Is post

active?

Pay active

post

Pay new

post

Is this a

new post?

Pay original

post

Pay new

post

Pay main

active

leaver post

Multiple Employment

Yes

Yes

Yes No

No

No

Pay sub

post

Does new

post exit?

Is sub post

active?

Pay main

post

Is main post

active?

ME

No Yes