When we were young...
Vince Ashall MSc FCIPP , of VAPayroll Services , recalls his early years
B onfire night (day?)1973 is etched in my memory as the day I started work in payroll. In common with many others joining the payroll profession at that time, my entry into our ‘key worker’ profession was by accident. I had attended for interview at the offices of the then Rochdale Hospital Management Committee (HMC) – as National Health Service (NHS) trusts were then known – for a junior position in the accounts department. Though unsuccessful fortunately I must have made some impression as a similar position in the payroll department was offered. I remember spending my first couple of days filing superannuation forms SD55ADP into binders that required a special key to unwind and then to wind the forms securely in place. At that time, many staff were paid weekly which meant that my colleagues were not able to spend much time training me. I wonder if this was partly responsible for kick-starting my interest in pensions? The first of what seems to have been regular reorganisations was implemented in April 1974, resulting in HMCs becoming area health authorities (AHAs) ‘supervised’ by some dozen or so regional health authorities. Some AHAs with links to universities were classed as ‘AHA (Teaching)’, and larger AHAs were divided into districts. More reorganisations have occurred since resulting in the NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts that we are familiar with today. Anyway, moving on from the history lesson a memory from the early part of my career is of descending into the bowels of Birch Hill Hospital. The purpose was to retrieve information about an employee’s contributions for the NHS Pensions Agency, which was based in Fleetwood and today still deals with
the calculation and payment of NHS pensions. I rang the Agency to provide the information but as the contributions were in £sd I had to convert them into the new- fangled decimal equivalent £p. Looking back, what stands-out is the discriminatory nature of the NHS pension scheme. For example, female nurses could retire at age 55 without an actuarial reduction being applied to their pension (normal pension age was then 60). Porters, catering, cleaning staff etc, classed as ‘manual staff’ had to serve a two-year waiting period before they could join the scheme, although they were then credited with a year’s service without having paid any contributions. There was also a special category of MHO (mental health office) status which was granted to those who spent a substantial amount of time working with patients with mental health problems. This was when most general hospitals had their own psychiatric wards, before ‘care in the community’. After twenty years’ service as a MHO, each additional year counted double enabling a MHO to retire early but with the maximum forty years’ pensionable service allowed and without actuarial reduction. Writing of MHO status reminds me that I have the distinction of possibly being the only CIPP member who has been in each of the three main psychiatric hospitals – Broadmoor, Ashworth and Rampton – and escaped. (Please note I was only visiting for payroll purposes.) Many of the memories recalled by ...special key to unwind and then to wind the forms securely...
Mike Aldous in an earlier When-we-were- young article rang bells with me, such as scratching out mistakes on the data input forms. Sometimes if you were a bit too vigorous, you could go straight through the paper. Not a problem: simply cut the relevant input field from unused sheets kept for such an eventuality and cellotape in place. Similarly, with making up cash pay packets. Although not involved I recall an incident where the alarm repeatedly indicated that the team making up the wages was potentially being attacked. Fortunately, these turned out to be false alarms. The team making up the wages were locked in a room and one of my colleagues, who was particularly tall, kept pressing the alarm bell under the table with his knee. Not so fortunate was a neighbouring AHA where the payroll was robbed. By the following week all staff previously paid in cash were paid by cheque or directly into a bank account. No messing around with consultation then. The mid-1970s were a time of rampant inflation, reaching a high of some 24% in 1975; a consequence of which was a seemingly never-ending round of pay rises. An increase in the monthly inflation rate by a specified number of percentage points automatically triggered a ‘threshold’ pay rise, usually of £1 plus some pence per week. The effective date of the pay rise was usually backdated meaning that calculation of arrears of pay for short periods became the norm. A final thought during these troubled times when payrollers have been designated as key workers. I have often likened payroll to social work – no one notices until it all goes wrong. A testament to how we all go about our work quietly, efficiently and effectively. n
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 62 | July/August 2020
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