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.
- NHSE Recruitment team will pick the offer up, prepare the offer letter, email it to the candidate and add a note to Trac.
- HR Shared Services (HRSS) will conduct the pre-employment checks. HRSS will carry out all standard pre-employment checks for secondees coming into NHSE. The candidate will remain in Offer: Conditional whilst the pre-employment checks are conducted.
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS): HRSS will always request a new DBS check if the role requires it.
- All checks returned: Once the checks are marked as a success, the HRSS Recruitment team will do a final review to ensure the checks are correct. When the final review is complete and all checks are completed correctly, the Blocking starter check: File review task will be marked as a success which will automatically move the candidate to 'Offer: Employment Checks OK’.
- HRSS Recruitment team will inform the Recruiting Manager when all required pre-employment checks are complete. HRSS will ask the Recruiting Manager for the candidate’s first day reporting (FDR) information and the substantive organisation’s name and address to enable them to prepare the secondment agreement.
- 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.
- HRSS Recruitment team will generate a Candidate Enrolment Form (CEF) which will be sent to the NHSE Human Resources and Organisation Development (HR and OD) team who will add the secondee to the Electronic Staff Record (ESR).
Returning the signed Secondment Agreement
Once the Secondment Agreement has been signed by all parties, the secondee 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 HR and OD team.
Changes to a Secondment
Where an amendment has been made to a secondment, for example, the secondment has been extended;
- The secondee'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 HR and OD 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.