A Review Body in the United Kingdom is a government mechanism to replace

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

for certain groups of employees in the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

, for example doctors and nurses in the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

. A Review Body makes independent recommendations on pay after considering evidence from the relevant parties (typically government, employers and unions), with cherished expectations that the Government will honour those recommendations and the unions will not pursue national

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

Office of Manpower Economics

The Office of Manpower Economics (OME) is a non-statutory body set up to provide an independent secretariat for each of the eight pay review bodies. It is funded by the

Department for Business and Trade The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was established on 7 February 2023 by a February 2023 British cabinet resh ...

(DBT).

Review bodies

The Review Body system started in 1960 for doctors and dentists after the publication of The Royal Commission on Doctor's and Dentist's Remuneration. As of 2005 there were six Review Bodies overseen by OME which together covered approximately 26% of the total 5.8 million employed in the UK public sector. * Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (ARPRB; covering 188,000 personnel) * Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB; covering 168,000 personnel) *Nursing and Other Health Professions Review Body (covering 668,000 full-time equivalent staff); now the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) * Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB; covering 33,000 full-time equivalent staff) * School Teachers' Review Body (STRB; covering 468,000 full-time equivalent staff) * Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB; covering 6,000 personnel)SSRB 28th Report 2006, pages 7, 27 & 35 Additionally, the following bodies are now also overseen by the OME: * Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) * National Crime Agency Remuneration Review Body (NCARRB) Each Review Body is established as a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

(NDPB) that is sponsored by the relevant department of the UK Government (e.g. the Armed Forces Pay Review Body is sponsored by the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

). However, the review bodies do have their own secretariat provided by the Government in the OME. The existence of a Review Body does not necessarily block the practice of collective bargaining, but its recommendations are required before a negotiated bargain is implemented. A major harmonisation of NHS pay structure, the

Agenda for Change Agenda for Change (AfC) is the current National Health Service (NHS) grading and pay system for NHS staff, with the exception of doctors, dentists, apprentices and some senior managers. It covers more than 1 million people and harmonises their ...

, was provisionally agreed in 2003 by unions representing nurses and other health professions in the NHS, unions representing NHS staff not covered by a Review Body (e.g. office staff), NHS employers and government ''before'' the Nursing and Other Health Professions Review Body considered the issue: it recommended in favour of implementing the negotiated agreement.

External links

Office of Manpower Economics

Notes

{{Department for Business and Trade Department for Business and Trade Labor relations Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government