Consultants' Discretionary Points Agreement

Consultants' Discretionary Points Agreement between NHS Tayside and the Tayside Local Negotiating Committee

1. General principles on the allocation and spread of points

1.1. Consultants' Discretionary Points will be awarded in line with NHS Circular PCS(DD)1995/6 (Appendix I) as amended by the SEHD in its letter dated 12 January 2000 (Appendix II).

1.2. In determining the number of discretionary points to be awarded in each year the Employer will take account of any consultant who has retired and consideration should be given to adding that consultant’s Discretionary Points to the overall number of Discretionary Points to be awarded in the current year. The employer will provide the LNC with the number of points released by consultants retiring. Each year, before the first meeting of the Discretionary Points Committee (DPC) and subject to the minimum set out in NHS Circular PCS (DD) 1995/6 (as amended by the SEHD letter of 12 January 2000), NHS Tayside (the Employer) in consultation with the Local Negotiating Committee (LNC), will determine, the overall number of discretionary points to be awarded by the DPC with effect from 1st April of the year in question. This consultation will take place within the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) in a timely fashion to give adequate time for Remuneration Committee verification.

1.3. The Employer and the LNC will review this Agreement annually in the light of experience. Any changes will only be made with the agreement of the LNC.

2. Eligible Consultants 

2.1. Consultants who have reached point 5 of the pay point scale will be eligible to apply for discretionary points. 

2.2. The Employer will compile a list of all eligible consultants as at 1st April each year. 

2.3. Consultants who are on split contracts (between two or more employers) will be considered on their overall contribution. It will be the responsibility of the ‘lead’ employer to implement the application process, to liaise with the other employers and to consider applications from split contract medical staff. Points will be awarded as if the ‘lead’ employer were the only employer. Review of this Scheme will expressly take account of steps taken by the Discretionary Points Committee to ensure that no disadvantage has been suffered by doctors on split contracts. 

2.4. The approach of the Discretionary Points Committee will be to award discretionary points flexibly. This means that the DPC may distribute points on a single or multiple basis as it sees fit; applicants shall be allowed to indicate if they wish to only be considered for one point per application. The award of more than 2 points should only be considered for the most exceptional applicants. 

2.5. Part-time Consultants receiving an award will be paid pro-rata to the full value of the award. It is vital that consideration is made for the reduced hours of work when assessing the value of the contributions made by part-time staff. Clinical academics with honorary contracts eligible for Discretionary points will be considered equally with other consultants. 

2.6. Consultants can apply on a yearly basis but will not normally be considered for a further point in the year following an award unless it is warranted due to exceptional circumstances. “Exceptional circumstances” does not refer to additional work completed but to specific personal circumstances that, for example, might preclude future applications. Any such exceptional applications will be considered by the DPC at the first meeting to decide whether they should be included for consideration with other applications. The decision of the DPC will be final and there will be no appeal if the DPC rejects an application under exceptional circumstances. 

3. Criteria

3.1. The criteria to be used for the local implementation of the policy are detailed in the Annex to the SEHD's letter of 12 January 2000, which is reproduced as an Appendix of this Agreement. No other criteria will be used in awarding discretionary points. 

3.2. The format of DP Form applications and an appropriate scoring system shall be agreed between the Employer and the LNC and reviewed each year. It is agreed that the scoring system must be as demonstrably objective as possible and clearly based on the above- mentioned criteria. The scoring system and weightings shall be agreed between the Employer and the LNC. 

3.3. DP Forms must be verified and countersigned by the clinical line manager – Clinical Care Group Director/ Clinical Lead/Associate Medical Director/Deputy Medical Director/ Medical Director as appropriate with specific attention paid to dates of work completed and the front sheet in terms of total remuneration received during the relevant time period. If the line manager and applicant are unable to agree that the submission is accurate it may still be submitted along with an explanation by the line manager of the point(s) at issue, and a statement in support by the applicant. The DPC and LNC DP Subcommittee will have access to these statements and will proceed to score the DP Form but will first have to make a judgement on whether to accept the contested fact. Careful minutes should be kept. 

3.4. Applicants must complete all DP Forms accurately and ensure that all information relating to work already remunerated, job plan details and support staffing etc., is completed accurately. The purpose of the DP process is to award above average contributions in relation to the remunerated job plan. It may be considered a disciplinary matter for applicants to misrepresent their achievements through the Discretionary Points process. 

4. Application procedure

4.1. The Medical Directorate in conjunction with the Workforce Directorate will, stating clearly the year of award, invite all eligible consultants to apply for discretionary points using the DP Form, giving details of how to download an electronic copy. Included with the invitation will be Guidance Notes for applicants regarding the process, completing the DP Form and scoring system. Guidance notes should be considered an Addendum to this agreement. In addition there will be a set of timelines for completion of documentation. The invitation will emphasise that those consultants who received discretionary points the previous year may apply only in exceptional circumstances (see section 2.6).

4.2. Each applicant is allowed to view (but not take away from the site) three successful applications, at least one (if such exists) from their own discipline (or closest discipline). Arrangements will be made to view these virtually if needed. 

4.3. The completed questionnaire must be verified and countersigned by the relevant Clinical Leader or other appropriate Clinical Line Manager. There will be an agreed time limit for presenting the DP Form for countersigning and for return of the countersigned DP Form to Workforce Directorate. It will be the responsibility of the applicant to ensure their application form is submitted to the Workforce Directorate by the agreed deadline date. 

5. Discretional points committee

5.1. The function of the DPC is to take the annual decision as to which consultants will receive discretionary points. The DPC will base its decisions on the information contained within this policy, the criteria laid down in the SEHD letter of 12 January 2000 and the other provisions of NHS Circular PCS (DD) 1995/6. The policy requirements and points scoring system agreed with the LNC will be strictly adhered to. Should a matter occur to the DPC that is not covered by the policy, the DPC must refer the issue to the Tayside Joint Negotiating Committee of Tayside management and the LNC for consultation and agreement. The DPC has no authority to make policy decisions at DPC meetings but can take this matter back through the review process as outlined in Section 6.5. The composition of the DPC will be as follows:- 

5.2. Group 1 

• 5.2.1. One Non-Executive Board Member (Chair and non-scoring) 
• 5.2.2. A Medical Director/Deputy Medical Director or Associate Medical Director of NHS Tayside: in the event that DPC Chairman is absent the Medical Director/Deputy Medical Director/Associate Medical Director or his/her medical representative will be deputy chair (but will continue to score). 
• 5.2.3. A senior representative of NHS Tayside – or their deputy - from the following list: Chief Executive of NHS Tayside, Director of Finance, Director of Workforce, Director of Public Health, Deputy Director of Workforce, Associate Director of Workforce, Director of Nursing & Midwifery, Director of Performance & Activity, Director of Pharmacy or Chief Officer for Acute, Angus, Dundee, Perth & Kinross. 
• 5.2.4. One Clinical Care Group Director 

5.3. Group 2 

• 5.3.1. A total of nine NHS consultants not holding a Clinical Care Group Director post 
• 5.3.2. One clinical academic staff member appointed by the University of Dundee. 

5.4. Group 3 

• 5.4.1. A maximum of two LNC observers from the LNC DP Subcommittee group. 
• 5.4.2. Role of the LNC DP Observers 
• The role of the observer(s) from the LNC DP Subcommittee will be to scrutinise the DP procedure at each stage of the process and to ensure full participation and confidence in the process for members. The LNC DP Subcommittee will independently examine forms to ensure consistency and that any anomalies or significant variations are brought to the attention of the DPC; these will be addressed by the DPC as it sees fit. 
• 5.4.3. Membership of the LNC DP Subcommittee - The LNC DP Subcommittee members will be elected from the LNC elected members. The Subcommittee will consist of a chair, and a maximum of five other members to act as scorers and observers of the DP Process. Up to two members will act as LNC observers on the DPC. 
• 5.4.4. Function of the LNC DP Subcommittee - The LNC DP Subcommittee will ensure adherence to the agreed procedure by participating in all aspects of the process. 

Prior to the first meeting of the DPC the LNC DP sub-committee will send each member of the DPC three anonymised applications from a previous year to score, as a calibration exercise. This must be completed by all members of the DPC prior to the first DPC meeting, within the timeframe set. At the first meeting of the DPC they will then be shown how their scoring compares to the other new scorers, and the actual scores awarded to those applications by scorers in the original committee. This is to give the new members of the DPC an idea of the range of scoring between scorers and a feel for the level of score appropriate to applications with different content. The LNC DP observer(s) will present this to the DPC chair to allow discussion of the scoring process. 

At the first meeting of the DP Committee, all scorers will be informed of the scoring procedure. Guidance notes will be distributed. Subsequent to the first meeting of the DP Committee, the LNC DP Subcommittee will examine the DP Forms and at the second meeting of the DP Committee will highlight any anomalies or significant variations in scores in order that these can be addressed at the second meeting of the DP Committee. The purpose of this audit is to ensure consistency and confidence in the Discretionary Points process. Any member of the DPC failing to complete the scoring of all applicants may be ineligible to stand for election to the DPC for two subsequent years. 

5.5. Any consultant eligible for points participating in the DPC, whether as member or observer, shall be deemed to have ruled themselves out of consideration for points that year. Any DPC member with any connection to an applicant, for example spouse, partner, family member, also precludes membership of the DPC i.e., both Group 1 and Group 2 (Section 5.2 and 5.3). Failure to declare a conflict of interest will be considered as a probity issue and handled as such. 

5.6. The DPC will be chaired by one of the Non-Executive Board Members, who will not take part in the scoring process. 

5.7. A senior member of the People Directorate will act as the Senior Advisor to the DPC and will not take part in the scoring process. The Senior Advisor will: 

• 5.7.1. Provide the DPC with the number of eligible consultants; 
• 5.7.2. Be responsible for convening the briefing and scoring meetings; 
• 5.7.3. Receive applications and check where best they can that acceptability criteria have been met; it remains the applicant’s responsibility to fully comply with all criteria. Where it is obvious that there is a lack of necessary details the application should be returned to the applicant with appropriate explanation and will be only be considered if correctly re-submitted and verified by the relevant clinical line manager or clinical leader as per Section 4 before the closing date. 
• 5.7.4. Be responsible for keeping the records of all scores and raw score sheets; 
• 5.7.5. Be responsible for keeping full minutes of all the meetings, together with a list of those attending and collate the scores. These minutes to be prepared and circulated at least two weeks prior to the second meeting of the DPC to allow review by the LNCDP Subcommittee prior to the second DPC meeting. 
• 5.7.6. Advise the DPC of the total number of points available for award and record the DPC’s decisions and rationale behind decisions within the Minutes. 
• 5.7.7. Advise the DPC of the number of applicants who have failed to be awarded a point if they have applied and been eligible for five years or more. 
• 5.7.8. Advise the DPC the breakdown of gender/ethnicity of those having failed in 5.7.7 above. 
• 5.7.9. Prepare the communication to successful applicants and all Consultants. 
• 5.7.10. Seek confirmation from the Remuneration Committee as to the number of points available for each round of discretionary points. 
• 5.7.11. Work in partnership at all stages of the discretionary points process with the LNC to ensure involvement and confidence in the process. 
• 5.7.12. Advise the Remuneration Committee of the decisions of the DPC including any appeals and the outcome of the appeals. The LNC DP Subcommittee will have full access to all records of the process. 
• 5.7.13. Be responsible for an equal opportunity analysis. 

5.8. Once dates for the two DPC meetings have been set, all consultants will be invited to nominate themselves to sit on the DPC, with reminders that if successful they will be ineligible to apply for points in that round and will need to be available for both meetings. If insufficient nominees present themselves, the LNC will seek representatives through the LNC. In the event of a surplus of volunteers, a ballot shall be conducted by the BMA in a timely fashion and overseen by LNC. 

5.9. Every effort must be made by the Discretionary Points Committee to reflect the diversity of the clinical body of consultants, and proportionate spread between each hospital and community services. Ballot results will be ranked, and the highest ranked individuals from the relevant minority groups will be promoted as necessary to allow the LNC to select a group of representatives that provides the appropriate spread as above. 

5.10. These arrangements must have the confidence of the profession whose spokesperson at the DPC is the LNC DP Subcommittee member(s). Any concerns raised by an LNC DP Subcommittee member must therefore be considered very seriously by the DPC in consultation with the policy and underpinning National circulars, and the rationale for the agreed approach captured in the minutes. 

5.11. Scoring committee members must be present for both DPs meetings, either in person or remotely. Those failing to attend the first DPC meeting will not be given copies of the applications to score, and will take no further part in the committee. 

5.12. The second DPC will be quorate with the presence of the chair, and at least one other member from Group 1, six members from Group 2 and one member from Group 3 present for the entire meeting, including through remote attendance. Members of the Committee must be clear before putting themselves forward that they should be in a position to attend both meetings and complete all the scoring of application forms required of a Committee member. 

5.13. Applicant anonymity is to be preserved up until after the point where the DPC determines the thresholds for allocation of the available discretionary points to applicants. Up until this point applicants will not be identified by name, but only by number, letters or some similar arrangement. 

5.14. Members of the DPC will not act as advocates or representatives for any applicant or specialty. Any member of the DPC with a declared conflict of interest may well be considered to be acting in such capacity if said conflict is not notified, discussed and agreed to be irrelevant to the DPC or award of points. 

5.15. Scoring will be undertaken independently. Scoring for each section should use the full range of scores. It is reasonable to give maximum scores if there appears to be an outstanding level of contribution or to give the minimum or near minimum score if the contribution is not greater than could be expected to fulfil the consultant’s contract in that area. Blank boxes must be scored 0 and there can be no duplication or transfer of data for scoring purposes from one box to another. 

5.16. The deliberations of the DPC will be based on the contents of the DP Forms only and it will not make any decision based on facts or suppositions not contained therein. The LNC DP Subcommittee will examine the DP forms to ensure an internal audit of the process and complete an analysis of the scores to check for any anomalies or significant variations in the scorings. A spreadsheet of the DPC scores will be emailed to the LNC DP Subcommittee prior to the second meeting in order that the comparative analysis can be completed. The outcome of this analysis will be reviewed at the second meeting by the DPC and the LNC DP Subcommittee representatives to the DPC and any anomalies or significant variations will be addressed by the DPC as it sees fit. It is important that there is transparency throughout the scoring procedure between the DP Committee and LNC DP Subcommittee in order to ensure confidence throughout the process. 

5.17. Once all valid scores have been collected, median scores shall be calculated in order to produce a rank order. Full minutes, including scoring sheets, rankings and rationale for decisions, e.g. on thresholds, will be maintained throughout the two meetings. All paperwork and electronic records will be available to the LNC DP Subcommittee. 

5.18. Successful applicants will be those consultants who have been able to show an above average contribution across a range of categories in their application. 

5.19. Appropriate guidance and training if requested regarding the process and equal opportunities will be given to each member of the DPC. 

5.20. Members of the DPC must treat person-identifiable data confidentially. The deliberations of the DPC will be subject to the terms set out at Section 6 and decisions of the Committee will be recorded as an official minute, which will be sent to the Remuneration Sub- Committee of NHS Tayside for confirmation. These minutes will be available to the LNC DP Subcommittee and to any applicant appealing the decision of the DP panel to ensure transparency. Doctors applying for points will be advised of the outcome within ten working days and a list of those who have been awarded points in the current year shall be published and will be available on request to all Consultants employed by NHS Tayside from the Medical Director’s office. Details of the outcome will be also sent to the Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards (SACDA). 

5.21. The DPC shall report to NHS Tayside Remuneration Committee who shall ensure that the operation of the DPC is appropriate in terms of probity and governance. In addition, the Remuneration Committee may request Internal Audit to undertake an independent review of the Discretionary Points process. 

6. The process

6.1. Within the timetable laid down the Senior Advisor to the DPC will arrange dates for both DPC meetings, and ensure that these are given to all those invited to sit on the committee prior to their nomination. They will convene an initial meeting to set the agenda for the detailed process for the year in question and to brief members on the procedure to be followed. 

6.2. All of the members of the DPC attending this meeting in person or remotely will be given the applications for consideration. 

6.3. On completion of the collation and monitoring analysis the Senior Advisor to the DPC will provide the LNC DP Sub Committee with the anonymised scoring information and reconvene the second meeting of the DPC to decide the allocation of points to the applicants. DPC and LNC DP Subcommittee members will initially be given an anonymised, ranked list of the median scores of all of the applicants together with a spreadsheet of scores by each scorer. Any anomalies or significant variations between the DP Committee and the LNC DP Subcommittee scores will be addressed by the DPC as it sees fit. Using this anonymised list the DPC will decide on the thresholds between the allocations of available discretionary points. Immediately after the thresholds have been determined an otherwise identical but de-anonymised, ranked list of the total scores will be circulated to the DPC members for perusal and discussion. 

6.4. Once allocated the Senior Advisor to the DPC will write out to all applicants within ten days informing them of the allocation of points. 

6.5. The letter to consultants not awarded points will detail the process to be followed in the event of an appeal and provide information regarding the appeal process and information available to appellant. 

6.6. Inform consultants whose applications have been unsuccessful that formal feedback may be requested from the DPC and an individual(s) will be nominated to provide feedback. 

6.7. Following the allocation of points the Senior Advisor to the DPC and the LNC DP Sub Committee will meet to review the process and make recommendations on any changes necessary. 

6.8. As above the agreed nominee(s) of the DPC will provide formal feedback to individuals on request after the award process has been completed in order to assist with future applications and appeal process. The information provided during the feedback will be anonymised and will refer to the scoring process. 

7. Appeal arrangements

7.1. If a consultant has grounds to believe that the process of awarding points has not been carried out fairly, he / she will have the right to appeal to the Senior Advisor to the DPC within one month from the date of receiving the results of the allocation of discretionary points. Late appeals will not normally be considered unless the applicant can show good reason for the delay and that it would be inequitable for the appeal not to proceed. The Senior Advisor to the DPC will be responsible for setting up the appeal. 

7.2. Any consultant formally appealing against the decision of the DPC will be granted full access to copies of appropriate records including the minutes of the DPC meetings, ranked scores, spreadsheet of scores, minutes and full records of the two meetings and any other relevant documentation considered by the DPC/LNC DP Subcommittee. Other applicants’ DP Forms must not be removed, scanned or copied. 

7.3. All appeals must be heard within three months of the date of receipt except by agreement with the appellants. The outline reason for the appeal should be stated by the applicant in his / her letter of appeal. A further more detailed explanation may be made in writing prior to the appeal hearing once the appellant has had the opportunity to review the necessary documentation. Applicants will have a right to be represented by a working colleague or trade union representative not acting in a legal capacity. The appeals panel shall be comprised as follows:- 

• 7.3.1.A Non-Executive Board Member of NHS Tayside who will act as chairperson; 
• 7.3.2.A further member nominated by NHS Tayside; 
• 7.3.3. A representative of the Local Negotiating Committee; 
• 7.3.4. An independent (from outside NHS Tayside or retired) consultant acceptable to both the Employer and the Local Negotiating Committee; 

7.4. None of whom shall have been involved in the scoring of the original process. The Appeal Committee will have access to all relevant documentation. The Appeal Committee have the authority to allocate the number of points they deem appropriate based on the case presented at the Appeal. All members of the Appeal Panel are voting members. In the event of a split vote the Chairperson has the casting vote. 

7.5. A member of the Workforce Directorate will service the appeal. 

7.6. Following the appeal:- 

• 7.6.1. The appellant will be informed ordinarily in writing within ten working days of the decision; 
• 7.6.2. The DPC will also be informed within the same time period by sending to each member a copy of the letter sent to the appellant; 
• 7.6.3. If successful, the appellant will receive the allocation of discretionary point(s) for the current year. 
• 7.6.4. If unsuccessful, there is no further right of appeal. 

8. Support for applicants

8.1. Applicants may request appropriate advice and support to complete DP Forms in order to promote equality of opportunity. This is available from colleagues, Clinical Leads and the DPC Senior Advisor. 

8.2. The Board will ensure that all applicants have adequate access to secretarial and IT resources in order to ensure that applicants are not disadvantaged in completing their DP Form. 

9. Status of the agreement

9.1. This agreement has been negotiated between the management and staff side of the Local Medical and Dental Negotiating Committee and formally approved on 8th April 2021. 

On behalf of the Medical and Dental LNC  
On behalf of NHS Tayside