Agenda for change. The Knowledge and skills framework . Please use the dd month yyyy format for the date for example 11 January 2008. The main title can be one or two lines long. Judy Dyos and Rachel Palmer

Objectives To understand the banding system for all staff (except Drs) in the NHS Movement through the bands and increment points The annual appraisal processes The Knowledge and Skills framework that guides appraisal assessment

Agenda for Change Set out in 2004 to create a generic approach to manage pay against skills. All NHS staff use this system except doctors, their professional body refused to be part of the system Replaced the Whitely council pay system Three core elements : Job evaluation Harmonised terms and conditions The knowledge and skills framework (KSF)

Agenda for change pay scales

Agenda for Change Pay Structure 2 8 7 6 5 4 3 9 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 8 Pay Band Gateway Incremental Pay Points Development Development Here is a diagram of the new simplified pay structure which has nine paybands. The JE system determines where jobs are placed on the paybands. Each of the paybands has a number of pay points. The KSF informs individuals’ development across the paybands - career progression. The KSF also informs peoples’ development within the paybands - pay progression. This occurs at two key points - the foundation gateway within one year of being appointed to a payband. The purpose is to check that individuals can meet the basic demands of their post. And at a second gateway which is placed towards the top of a payband - when there is confirmation that individuals are meeting the full demands of their post. The second gateway is the point where the individual should be fully developed and may wish to consider career development options. Gateway

NHS KSF - Main Purpose personal development in post career development To provide an NHS-wide framework that can be used consistently across the service to support: personal development in post career development service development

What the NHS KSF is Not It does not seek to describe what people are like or their attitudes It does not describe the exact knowledge and skills that people need to develop It does not determine job weight or pay band It is important to be aware of what the KSF does not do as well as what it does. As the KSF is designed to inform career and pay progression, it does not seek to describe what people are like or the particular attributes they have (eg courage in the face of danger). Rather it focuses on how people need to apply their knowledge and skills to meet the demands of work in the NHS. It consequently relates to behaviour but in the sense of what people actually do - not any underlying characteristics. This is because it would not be fair to make such generalisations to affect people’s pay and career progression. The KSF is a broad generic framework that focuses on the application of knowledge and skills - it therefore does not describe the exact knowledge and skills that people need to develop. More specific standards/competences would help to do this as would the learning outcomes of learning programmes. The KSF does not determine job weight or affect the payband that jobs are placed on - that is the purpose of the job evaluation system.

Personal & People Development Health, Safety & Security 6 Core Dimensions NHS KSF Equality & Diversity Personal & People Development Quality Service Improvement Communication Health, Safety & Security The 6 core dimensions that apply to every post in the NHS are: 1 Communication 2 Personal and people development 3 Health, safety and security 4 Service improvement 5 Quality 6 Equality and diversity

Estates & Facilities EF 1-3 Information & Knowledge 24 Specific Dimensions (in four groups) NHS KSF Health & Well-being HWB 1-10 Estates & Facilities EF 1-3 Information & Knowledge IK 1-3 General G 1-8 The 24 specifhc dimensions are shown in this diagram, split into four groups. These will relate to some jobs and not others. For example, dimension HWB6 – Assessment and treatment planning and dimension HWB7 Interventions and treatment are likely to apply to some, if not all, healthcare practitioners. On the other hand, dimension IK1 Information processing, IK2 Information Collection and analysis and EF1 Systems Vehicles and Equipment are likely to be relevant to health informatics staff.

4 levels to each dimension Contribute to own personal development Level 2 Develop oneself and provide information to others to help their development Level 3 Develop oneself and contribute to the development of others Level 4 Develop oneself and others in an area of practice.

Examples of Application: Personal & People Development, Level 2: Develop own skills and knowledge and provide information to others to help their development: Takes responsibility for own personal development and takes an active part in learning opportunities Offers information to others when it will help their development and/or help them to meet work demands Indicators: Examples of Application: Offering information to others might include: During induction During ongoing work When changes are being made to work practices This illustrates what the indicators and examples of application look like. It shows the start of the indicators for the level 2 descriptor in Core Dimension 2 Personal and People Development. The level descriptor is ‘Develop own skills and knowledge and provide information to others to help their development’. The first example is about ‘taking responsibility for own development’; the second is about ‘providing information to others where it will help them to meet work demands’. There are 4 further indicators for this level descriptor, which can be found on page 59 of the NHS KSF 2004. The examples of application are designed to illustrate how the dimensions and level descriptors could be applied across the NHS. The example we have here relates to ‘the others’ to whom information is provided. You can see that this might take place, for example, during induction, during ongoing work and when changes are being made to work practices.

The KSF & Personal Development - Lifelong Learning Commitment to annual development reviews and development of all individuals Everyone to have a personal development plan Everyone is expected to learn and develop within their job role Enshrined in the AFC Agreement – part of everyone’s terms and conditions We are now going to move on to looking at how the NHS KSF links to a number of other commitments in the NHS. First of all lifelong learning. Within the Agenda for Change agreement, and specifically through the NHS KSF, there is a commitment t annual development reviews for all staff and a commitment to the development of all staff. Everyone will have their own personal development plan - developed jointly in discussion with their manager. Everyone is expected to progress and develop. That is, everyone is expected to learn and develop throughout their life working in the NHS. There is a normal expectation of progression for everyone.

The NHS KSF - Summary Identifies the knowledge and skills that people need to apply in their post Helps guide development Provides a fair and objective framework on which to base review Provides the basis of pay progression in the service So in summary the NHS KSF is designed to: identify the knowledge and skills that individuals need to apply in their post help to guide the development of individuals in their post and throughout their careers in the NHS provide a fair and objective framework on which to base the review of staff and provides the basis of pay progression within paybands at the foundation and second gateways.

What is a full KSF Post Outline? Identifies the KSF dimensions and levels that apply to a post in the NHS – a broad outline Puts the outline in context through identifying the specific areas/activities to which the dimensions and levels are applied Sets out the ‘foundation subset’ as well as the full outline for the post Agreed in partnership A NHS KSF post outline identifies the KSF dimensions that apply to a particular post in the NHS. This combination of dimensions and level descriptors gives you a broad outline for a post. A full KSF post outline also adds the specific areas /activities that are relevant to that post - those aspects of work that the dimensions and levels apply to for that particular post. As you will remember the NHS KSF gives you examples of application to which the dimensions and levels apply, when you create a KSF post outline you need to identify the specific ones that are relevant for that post. For example, the specific areas of application/activities that a nurse undertakes in addressing health and wellbeing needs are likely to be different from those which a physiotherapist uses, although they might of course have one or two in common.

Outlines - Dimensions All core dimensions must be included Specific dimensions should reflect the major areas for development within the post The number of specific dimensions should be kept to the minimum necessary to cover the post KSF Dimensions do not influence pay bands

HWB10 Products to meet health and KSF Post Outline CORE HWB10 Products to meet health and well-being needs This is another example of a post – this post has one specific dimension alongside the 6 Core. The next three slides will show how this would apply to a post. Catering Assistant

KSF Post Outline A Healthcare Practitioner CORE HWB6 Assessment & treatment planning HWB7 Interventions and treatments Ik2 Information Collection & analysis G6 People Management This is an example of which specific dimensions might apply to a post. This post has 4 specific in addition to the 6 core Dimensions. A Healthcare Practitioner

KSF Post Outline - Nurse Band 5 Once the levels for the post are agreed in partnership, it is the annual development review which will give individual postholders feedback on how they are meeting the KSF outline for their post. The blue squares are showing us where this person is meeting or above the required level for the post. You can see that in Core 3 Health Safety and Security this person is above the level required for the post, this may be because because they are a health and safety representative. The pink squares show us where the postholder and their reviewer agree that there is a development need as they progress towards the second gateway. This becomes the focus of the personal development plan for the coming year.

Purpose of a Foundation Gateway Subset To focus development in the first year on enabling the individual meet the essential demands of the post To check that the individual is likely to develop to meet the full demands of the post over a number of years To inform recruitment and selection processes We are now going to look particularly at creating subsets of KSF post outlines for Foundation Gateways. The purpose of a subset is to be clear about how individuals are applying their knowledge and skills after the first year in post and then being sure that they are at that point. This will help to focus development in the first year in enabling the individual to meet the essential demands of the post. It will also provide a check that the individual is more than likely to develop to meet the full demands of the post over the next few years. What is included in the subset of the KSF post outline for the Foundation Gateway should also of course inform recruitment and selection into the post.

The NHS KSF and Development Review KSF outline developed for each post Individual is matched against the KSF outline for their post Personal development plans jointly agreed and supported Individual supported to learn (in a variety of ways) Joint evaluation of learning Now we have looked at the design of the KSF, we move onto how it is put into practice. The first stage is to develop a KSF outline for a post. As it says the focus of this stage is the post and not an individual. It involves identifying the dimensions, levels and areas of application for the post concerned. The second stage is matching an individual postholder to the KSF post outline - this shows the individual’s strengths and where there are areas for development within the post. An Personal Development Plan - PDP - is then developed for the individual - this is a joint process between the individual and his/her manager. The individual is then supported to learn through different learning opportunities - this learning could take place in a variety of ways such as learning on the job, shadowing, mentoring, formal training courses etc. The final stage is the evaluation of learning and how it has been applied to the individual’s work.

Development Review Process Jointly produce Personal Development Plan - identify needs & agree goals Joint review of individual’s work against the NHS KSF outline for the post Joint evaluation of applied learning and development Individuals undertake supported learning & development This can be shown in the form of a learning cycle - which most of you will no doubt be familiar with - where the four stages are shown i.e. 1 joint review of work against the demands of the post as detailed in the KSF outline 2 jointly producing a PDP identifying learning and development needs, goals and how these will be met 3 learning and development by individual supported by their manager 4 joint evaluation of learning and development and its application. One of the common features of all stages of the development review process is the commitment to partnership throughout.

Development Review Process The development review should be a focussed discussion about how the individual is doing against the appropriate outline for their post The emphasis should be on development – what has been achieved in the past year and what needs to be achieved in the next year Most of the ‘evidence’ provided will be verbal – part of the discussion process, based on the manager and individual’s views of how they are getting on at work Each development review will result in a personal development plan (PDP) setting out the individuals development needs and how these will be met

Gateway Reviews Same process as other reviews Build on the information gathered over time i.e. not isolated incidents but assessments which review the information gathered Information at gateways can be from others (besides individuals and their managers) e.g. 360o feedback if available, information from colleagues Gateway reviews follow the same process as all other reviews. The information used at gateways should build on information that is gathered over time (particularly for the second gateway). The gateways are not intended to be unusual tests of the individual. Rather they are a point at which information from a number of sources is bought together and a formal decision about pay progression is made. The guidance suggests that good practice would be if the information used at gateways is triangulated - this means that it comes from three or more sources, such as the individual, their manager and colleagues. Organisations that have already started to use 360o feedback will be ideally placed for this approach.

Foundation and Second Gateways Foundation gateway review against subset of full KSF outline for the post 2nd gateway review against full KSF post outline The Foundation subset contains the elements of the outline that are essential for all postholders within the first year of appointment. The Foundation Gateway review takes place after a year in post. The review is based on a subset of the full KSF outline for the post - essentially this means the fundamental things that an individual would be expected to do in this post given that they will develop into the post over time. The Second Gateway review is against the full KSF post outline. The Second Gateway occurs towards the top of a payband as set out in the Agenda for Change agreement. There should be no surprises for individuals in pay progression.

Responsibilities in the Review There is a responsibility on both the individual member of staff and their manager to review how the individual is applying their knowledge and skills to meet the demands of the post as described in the KSF outline It is important that both managers and staff prepare in advance by thinking through whether there are any likely development needs and how these might be met. Both individuals and their managers have responsibilities in the process. Both have to review how the individual is apply their knowledge and skills to meet the demands of the post as described in the KSF post outline.

Manager’s Responsibility Regular informal discussions with individual staff member throughout the year Providing constructive feedback on the individual’s work and related development Any issues with the individual’s work must have been discussed prior to the formal review meeting – ‘no surprises’ Managers have a responsibility to: - have regular informal discussions with individual staff members throughout the year so that the individual gets feedback on how they are doing - provide constructive feedback on the individual’s work and the individual’s development - discuss any issues with the individual’s work prior to the formal review meeting. The whole system is based on the principle of NO SURPRISES

Good sources of information Unions – RCN and Unison NHS Careers www.nhsemployers.org

Questions