Consultant Discretionary Points
What are Discretionary Points?
Discretionary Points are a financial award paid at the discretion of the employer to reward excellence. To warrant payment of a discretionary point, consultants will be expected to demonstrate an above average contribution in respect of service to patients, teaching, research and the management and development of the service.
The employer, in determining the award of discretionary points, will follow the guidance in NHS Circular PCS(DD)1995/6 and the SEHD Guidance of 12 January 2000 ‘Discretionary Points for Consultants’.
Who is eligible to apply for Discretionary Points?
The application process is open to all Consultants who:-
- Are employed on a substantive contract or Clinical Academic with an Honorary Contract
- Are on the new contract, and have reached pay point 5 of the salary scale, (or its equivalent, for those consultants on the transitional salary scales), by 1 April of the fiscal year
- Are on the old consultant contract and have reached the maximum of the salary scale by 1st April of the fiscal year
- Consultants who are in receipt of a Distinction Award or 8 Discretionary Points are not eligible for payment of Discretionary Points
- Locum Consultants are not eligible for payment of Discretionary Points
- Part-time consultants receiving an award will be paid pro-rata to the full value of the award
- Clinical Academics receiving an award will be paid pro-rata according to the average time per week for which they engage in clinical or public health medicine as per NHS Circular PCS(DD)1995/6
- Consultants who deliver services between two or more Board areas will be considered on their overall contribution. It will be the responsibility of the ‘lead’ employer to implement the nomination process, to liaise with the other employers and to consider applications from these medical staff
How many points can be awarded?
Employers have discretion on the numbers to be granted in any individual case in any particular year, and on the total number of points to be granted in any year subject to the minimum requirement of 0.35 points per eligible Consultant.
Notwithstanding this principle only in exceptional circumstances will more than two discretionary points be awarded to an individual in any single year.
How do I apply for Discretionary Points?
All eligible consultants will be contacted by email and invited to submit an application. If you think you are eligible based on the above criteria and you have not received an email please check your junk folder first before emailing the Discretionary Points mail box: discretionarypoints@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Applicants will be given six weeks from the date of the invite letter to return their completed application form. Please note that the application form is now a web based document. Eligible Consultants will receive an email which will contain a private link to the application form. This year when an applicant clicks on the link the Webropol System will prepopulate your application form with the following information:
- Payroll Number
- Sector/Directorate
- Job Title
- Date of Last Award
- Unique Identifying Number
Please note that each eligible Consultant will receive their own private link thus links are not transferable. If you have not received an email inviting you to apply please contact the Discretionary Points mailbox – discretionarypoints@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
The invite email you will receive will contain the above information apart from your payroll number. Please note that applicants will not see the above information when they click on the link as this data will remain ‘hidden’ within the form. This information will though be included in the application form received by the panel. If you think any of the information in your invite email is wrong please contact the Discretionary Points mailbox.
Applicants will thus only complete Sections 1-5 of the application form. An example of the application form is in Appendix 1.
Please note that as each eligible Consultant will receive their own private link thus links are not transferable. If you have not received an email inviting you to apply and you think you meet the eligibility criteria please contact the Discretionary Points team using the email address above.
Please note applications will not be accepted if they are received after the closing date, 5pm on Friday 19 July 2024. The normal four week deadline for receipt of applications has been extended by two weeks to take account of the school holiday period.
Consultants should not apply for discretionary points in the year following the receipt of an award apart from in exceptional circumstances. Where a consultant believes that ‘exceptional circumstances’ apply, then they should complete Section 2 of the application form.
Details on how to complete, save and submit the new form can be found in the Guidance Note on Completion of Application Form.
The Statement of Case is in Section 5 of the new form and each scoring box now has a character limit depending on the number of points available for that section. The number of characters available for each box is indicated under the bottom right hand corner of the box.
Please note that there is also a box in Section 5 to list any publications or research etc.
Anonymisation
Please ensure that your application is anonymised (including any list of publications, research etc.). Failure to comply with this will result in your application being disqualified.
Applications that are not completed in accordance to the guidance specification will be disqualified. As it is an applicant’s responsibility to ensure that their application meets the guidance specification you are advised to double check your form prior to submission. All applications received by the closing date will be submitted to the decision making panels who will decide if an application meets the guidance specification prior to the scoring process. If an application does not meet the guidance specification applicants will be notified in writing of their disqualification from the process.
To apply you will need to read and follow the Guidance Note on Completion of Application Form and complete and submit your Application Form and the Equality Monitoring Form by 5pm on Friday 19 July 2024. To submit your completed application click submit on the final page of the application form. On submission of your application form you will automatically receive an email from the Discretionary Points mail box confirming the receipt of your form. If you do not receive an acknowledgment email please contact the Discretionary Points Mail box before the closing date stated above. Applicants are advised to use the ‘save and continue’ option, to save their form prior to submitting their completed form.
After you have submitted your application you will then have the option to either convert and save your form into a PDF document or email your form to an email address of your choosing. Please click finish to exit the form.
Completion of the Equality Monitoring Form is a mandatory requirement of the application process. Please note that the Equality Monitoring Form will not be sent to the Panel. You will receive an email which will contain a private link to the Equality Monitoring Form
When you click on your private link, Webropol will pre-populate your Equality Monitoring Form with your unique identifying number. This unique identifying number will enable Webropol to analyse the success rate of all applicants including those from protected groups. From this analysis the Board will then will be able to identify if there is any bias within the current Discretionary Points process.
How will my application be considered
All applications are anonymised and scored independently by members of the Sector/Directorate Discretionary Points Committee comprised of the following individuals:-
- Sector/Directorate Director
- Chief of Medicine
- Clinical Director
- Service General Manager
- Eligible and non-Eligible Consultants nominated by MSA
- Head of People & Change (Non-Scoring)
- Local Negotiating Committee Observer (Non-Scoring)
The committee composition has equal numbers of management to MSA Representatives
- The scores are discussed at a meeting of the Discretionary Points Committee and the award of points is discussed and agreed
- The deliberations of the Discretionary Points Committee is confidential (subject to the terms of the Appeals Process)
- All applicants are informed of the outcome of their application by letter to their home address. If the application is successful the payment of award will be made in their January 2025 salary at the latest.
- A list of those individuals who have been awarded points in the current year are posted on HR Connect
Will I be able to appeal the outcome of my application?
Consultants are advised to discuss their application with the relevant Chief of Medicine before deciding on whether to proceed with a formal appeal.
In the event that a consultant believes that the process of awarding discretionary points has been unfair i.e. they believe they have been disadvantaged by the assessment or in regard to how many points they have been awarded, there is the right of appeal.
The purpose of the appeal hearing is for an independent panel to review the consultant’s original application and the scores awarded by the Discretionary Points Committee, to assess whether the process of awarding points has been carried out fairly. It is not an opportunity for the consultant to present new information.
Appeals must be made in writing to Liz Sinclair, HR Manager, Medical Staffing at Liz.Sinclair@ggc.scot.nhs.uk within one month of the candidate receiving their outcome letter. The grounds of appeal must be clearly stated by the applicant in their letter of appeal.
On receipt of an appeal the Medical Staffing Unit will arrange an appeal hearing, within two calendar months of the completion of all the Discretionary Points Committee meetings. The appeals panel comprises of the following individuals:-
- Board Medical Director
- Deputy Director of Human Resources & Organisational Development
- Two individuals nominated by the Local Negotiating Committee
Following the appeal, the appellant will be informed in writing within three working days of the decision.
The decision of the Appeals Panel will be final.
List of Consultants awarded Discretionary Points:
2021-22