Diary of hours worked for the ‘ready reckoner’
A ‘ready reckoner’ designed to give you an approximate idea of the kind of salary you are likely to receive under the terms of the new contract is available for you to use.
It is crucial that you keep a diary of the hours you work so that you have the data you will need to enter into the ready reckoner to calculate an estimate of your new salary. This diary is also very useful for job planning discussions as it can be used to demonstrate the actual hours that you work. This will be important for those that decide to take up the new contract.
The ready reckoner diary should cover a period of at least four to six weeks. If your work pattern is varied you should consider keeping a diary for up to twelve weeks. The diary should reflect a typical work pattern, rather than a period that is more or less busy than usual. A longer period of three to four months would be more comprehensive if you are using the diary to inform your job plan.
It is possible for you to make up a retrospective diary if, for instance, the period leading up to and including Easter will not provide an idea of your typical working pattern.
Please note the ready reckoner cannot confirm the actual salary you will receive if you move over to the new contract. This is because there are significant differences in current working practices across the UK which may affect the model. You should also note that the ready reckoner’s calculations are based on your current job plan but your new salary will be based on your new job plan under the terms of the new contract. The ready reckoner therefore can only provide an estimate of your projected salary under the new contract. The BMA therefore makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy of the ready reckoner or your projected salary.
Any personal decision to assimilate on to the new contract should therefore be based on more detailed discussions you should have with your employer regarding a new job plan and new salary.
Diary-keeping
For your ‘ready reckoner’ or job planning diary, you will need to make a note of the following information over at least a four to six week period. (see related press release about diary-keeping)
1.The number of sessions you are paid to work each week
This includes sessions paid for on-call duties, supporting professional activities (e.g. appraisal CME and other contractual duties. These activities are also counted as ‘work’ for pay purposes)
This should be a minimum of 10 sessions if you are a whole-time doctor.
2.The number of sessions that you work on call
This should be the number of on-call sessions that you are paid to do on call. (You may need to consult your job plan to ensure that the total number of sessions you are paid for on call are accurately defined.)
3.The total number of hours per week that you actually work
This includes time spent working while on call but not resting while on call.
At the end of the diary period you will need to work out the average total number of hours of actual work you undertake each week.
Example -
Week one: 38.5 hours
Week two: 42 hours
Week three: 37 hours
Week four: 45 hours
Average hours worked = 40.5
4.The number of hours per week that you actually work outside the 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday, including the weekend
Time spent working during these hours as part of shift should be counted as well as time spent actually working when on call but not time resting when on call. (This information needs to be collected separately and in addition to the total number of hours you work for entering into the ready reckoner.)
Please see here for guidance on how to calculate hours while on call
At the end of the diary period, as above, you will need to average out the number of actual hours of work you undertake out of hours and at weekends (between the hours of 7am and 7pm Monday to Friday).
5.Your on call frequency
If you work on call, for the ready reckoner you will need a note of the frequency of on call work that you do, e.g. 1:3, 1:4 etc. If this varies you will need to work out an average of how much on call you do so that you have a frequency rate for the ready reckoner.
Diary check list
Do you have the following information?
- The number of sessions you are paid to work each week
- The number of sessions that you work on call
- The total number of hours per week that you actually work (on average over the diary period)
- The number of hours per week that you actually work outside the 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday, including the weekend (on average over the diary period)
- Your on call frequency.
Download a model diary in Word format here (179k)