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Your contract: Your decision. SAS contract implementation – next steps

• staff grades
• associate specialists
• senior clinical medical officers
• clinical medical officers
• clinical assistants and hospital practitioners ( but not GPs who are providing a primary care service in the secondary care setting or community hospitals)

• Work will now begin on implementation and employers are expected to write to all SAS grade doctors and dentists in April asking for expressions of interest. You will have 12 weeks from receipt of the letter from your employer to express an interest in the new contract. This does not commit you to accepting the new contract but guarantees back pay to 1 April 2008 if you do, regardless of how long the job planning process takes.

• SAS doctors must consider whether they would like to apply to take up the new contract. You will need to consider your individual circumstances in order to decide this. You can use the BMA ready reckoner to estimate your salary under the new contract and should be familiar with the summary of the contract both of which are on the BMA website. For some SAS doctors, particularly those expecting to receive one or more optional / discretionary point payable from 1 April 2008, you may wish to agree a back pay date after your award has been given. See below for a full list of links to guidance and information available on the BMA website.

• If expressing an interest we would strongly suggest that you should begin diary planning exercises to aid you in job planning discussions. These should last for a minimum of 6 weeks.

• If you are eligible and wish to apply to re-grade to the AS grade you should do so as soon as possible, as there will be re-grading opportunities to the new 2008 associate specialist grade between 1 April 2008 and midnight 31 March 2009 through a window of opportunity.

• We will work on producing further guidance to assist you in assimilation. We will publish this on the BMA website as soon as possible and will communicate this widely when available. Your Local Negotiating Committee (LNC) Chair or SASC representative on the LNC can also assist in this process.

• Current SAS doctors can remain on their contracts indefinitely if they wish, while retaining the ability to transfer to the new contract at any time in the future (although with no backdating of pay to 1 April).

• Your contract – your decision Short summary of the proposed new contracts for doctors in SAS group. British Medical Association, February 2008. (pdf 269k)

• Your contract – your decision Full summary of the proposed new contracts for SAS group doctors. British Medical Association, February 2008. (pdf 410k)

• Ready reckoner guidance British Medical Association, February 2008. (pdf 98k)

• Associate Specialist ready reckoner British Medical Association, 2008 (Excel spreadsheet)

• Staff Grade ready reckoner. British Medical Association, 2008 (Excel spreadsheet)

• SAS contracts – Frequently asked questions Jointly produced by the British Medical Association and NHS Employers, 2008. (pdf 225k)

• Associate Specialist terms and conditions of service (2008) (pdf 560k)

• Specialty Doctor terms and conditions of service (2008) (pdf 558k)

• Model contract of employment for Associate Specialists and Specialty Doctors (2008) (pdf 44k)

• Job planning – a brief introduction The purpose, scope and effect of job planning. NHS Employers guidance, 2008. (pdf 40k)

• Job planning standards of best practice for associate specialist and specialty doctors. NHS Employers guidance, December 2007. (pdf 100k)

• Applications for re-grading to the Associate Specialist grade through the Window of Opportunity. Jointly produced by the British Medical Association and NHS Employers. (pdf 64k)

• Supplementary contract information for Scotland. British Medical Association, March 2008.