A secondee is any candidate that is being temporarily transferred to another position or employment.
If the candidate currently works for another NHS body, for example the NHS Business Services Authority (BSA), they would be classed as external, as they are not currently employed by NHS England (NHSE).
External Secondment process as part of a Trac recruitment
- Lead Interviewer completes the Offer table. A note should be added to the 'Other salary related information' section advising that the offer is an external secondment.
- Lead Interviewer to provide the HR contact details (name and address) for the substantive organisation.
- HR Shared Services (HRSS) Recruitment team will pick the offer up, prepare the offer letter, email it to the candidate and add a note to Trac.
- All checks returned: HRSS will carry out all standard pre-employment checks for secondees coming into NHSE. The candidate will be automatically moved to 'Employment Checks OK’ when the required checks are updated as complete in Trac.
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS): HRSS will always request a new DBS check if the role requires it.
- HRSS Recruitment team will inform the RM when all required pre-employment checks are complete. HRSS will ask the RM for the candidates first day reporting (FDR) information.
- HRSS Recruitment team will produce a secondment agreement which is emailed to the candidate within 14 working days. The candidate will be asked to sign and forward to the substantive organisation for signing before returning a copy of the agreement which will be held in the employee’s file.
- The RM will complete a New Starter form which can be found by searching on the NHSE SharePoint. Once complete, the RM will send the New Starter form to the NHSE Workforce team so that the candidates Electronic Staff Record (ESR) can be updated.
Returning the signed Secondment Agreement
Once the Secondment Agreement has been signed by all parties, the candidate should return a copy of the document to HRSS by replying directly to the original email received so this is attached to Trac.
Non-recruitment secondment
The standard process is through Trac, however in exceptional circumstances where a secondment agreement is made and it is not part of a recruitment campaign, please speak with the NHSE Workforce team.
Changes to a Secondment
Where an amendment has been made to a secondment, for example, the secondment has been extended;
- The employee's Line Manager will be able to make the adjustments in ESR via Manager Self Service (MSS). Should they require any further assistance with this, they will need to contact the NHSE Workforce team.
Terms and Conditions
During the secondment period, the secondee will remain an employee of their substantive employer, on the substantive's payroll, under the substantive's terms and conditions.
When on secondment, the substantive employer will continue to pay the employee's salary and the substantive employer should invoice your organisation to recoup this.