Your contract, sent out via email by HR and/or TURAS, should state your basic salary and banding supplement codes.

TOTAL SALARY = Basic salary (depends on average weekly hours) +

Banding supplement (depends on intensity of OOH work)

Basic Salary

The basic salary is graded, based on the average actual hours worked, into 'F bands' as seen in the table below. Rather confusingly, it means if you are working 80% of a 48 hour rota (i.e. approx. 38hrs/wk), you fall into the F9 band and are paid 90% of the basic salary your full time colleague would be paid. If you are working 80% of a 44 hour rota (i.e. approx. 35hrs/wk), you fall into the F8 band and are paid 80% of the basic salary your full time colleague is paid.

Banding Supplement

Your banding supplement depends on the intensity of the out of hours working on your rota. The compliance team (HR) will work this out, but for your information the flow chart for how this is calculated is shown below. The banding supplement is added to your basic salary to give your total pay. It is often the case an A banded full time job is a FA banded LTFT job, but there are exceptions to this and sometimes you may be up or down banded when you are LTFT. You can find out your banding supplement by looking at the placement letter or amendment to contract - see the FAQ section below.

It is really important you check your payslip to ensure you are being paid correctly. Beware, the BMA website for LTFT pay is orientated to the English system - which is very different to how LTFT resident doctors in Scotland are paid.

Amy is an ST5 in emergency medicine (salary figures for illustration only)

As a full time resident doctor, she was on a 1A rota and worked on average 48hrs/week

Her basic salary was £50,000

Her supplement was 50% of this (£25,000)

Total gross pay = £75,000 (i.e. 1.5 x basic salary)

She has successfully applied for LTFT 80% and now works 38 hrs/week

Her basic salary is F9 because she works 38hrs (90% of £50,000) = £45,000

Her OOH intensity means her supplement is FA (50% of £45,000) = £22,500

Total gross pay = £67,500 (i.e. 1.35 x full-time basic salary)

Pay Calculator Table

We have created a table to try to make comparing your LTFT pay to your full time pay easier. Please note this is based on a full time of 48 hrs/week on average. If your (full time) rota has a lower average number of hours, then you will need to adjust the figures.

Here we can see if our example ED resident doctor Amy was initially full time on a 1A rota, she receives 1.5 x basic salary. When she drops to 80% on the same rota, she gets 1.35 x basic salary.

What should I do if I'm not being paid correctly?

You should contact payroll in the first instance. It may then be necessary to liaise with the NES Training Programme Manager if problems persist. It is important to sort pay out quickly because you may be obliged to pay NHS Lothian back if you are being overpaid. If you are a BMA member, they can also offer lots of help and support (but be mindful of the advice given earlier).

Why has my LTFT pay gone down?

It is quite easy for your average weekly hours to drift down into a lower basic salary bracket (e.g. if your weekly average hours changed from 37 to 35, you would move from F9 to F8). This might happen for instance, if the department has more resident doctors than normal on a rota, meaning your average hours drop. Or if the average number of hours your full time colleagues work drops, then your number of hours will drop (as they will be a % of the full time hours). Your rota master and the compliance team (loth.complianceteam@nhs.scot) would be the first port of call in this instance and you should have been forewarned of this change. Your pay should not usually change within a rotation period, but may change at the point you rotate (i.e. if you are based in a department for six months, you would usually expect to have a fixed salary for that period, unless your rota was subject to monitoring).

Where do I find out my banding/pay scale?

If you are a new start/new to region, you will receive a placement letter from HR/medical staffing which contains your rota code and banding. If you are rotating, you will receive an "amendment to contract" which again contains the rota code and banding for your new placement. These documents are usually generated 6 weeks in advance of the start/rotation date and emailed to individuals. They are also found in the "filing cabinet" section of the TURAS people website. Releasing these documents gets trickier in the run up to the August due to the sheer volume HR are dealing with, but 6 weeks before is the aim. If you have not received this information, you could instead contact Medical Staffing (medical.personnel@nhs.scot) for further information.

What should I be paid if the full time rota is non-compliant?

This is a situation which can get quite complicated, so if things don't get sorted easily, then do seek advice from the BMA and the Deanery. A non-compliant rota means the full time doctors work over 48 hours per week (on average) and do not meet the minimum rest requirements. A full time doctor in this situation would received a Band 3, meaning they receive a 100% supplement on top of their basic salary. LTFT doctors should also receive a 100% supplement on top of their basic salary.

TURAS (as a computer programme) does not cope well with non-compliant rotas. Do not be alarmed if your placement letter or amendment to contract for a non-compliant placement states "no banding" - this is a TURAS computer glitch specific to this situation. Read on further to the comments section where the actual rota code, rota contact and compliance calculation hours for the LTFT% should be stated, as well as a note the rota is currently non-compliant. It will probably look something like this:

with effect from 04/12/2024

Banding supplement: No Banding

Effective Date to: 01/04/2025

Rota Contact Details: Rota code: MD 0401

Rota contact: Nikki McGill

Compliance calculation hours: 32.80 non-compliant band 3 rota

HR/Medical staffing need to inform payroll for each person in this situation, and payroll then have to manually make the banding payments.