Written question asked by John McDonnell (Labour) on Friday, 9 October 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 13 October 2026. It was answered by Karin Smyth (Labour) on Monday, 19 October 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

NHS: Working Hours

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what national NHS terms and conditions apply to estates and engineering staff who are required to be available on-call outside their normal working hours; and what provision those terms make for (a) payment for availability and (b) payment for work undertaken while on-call.

Answer: Estates and engineering staff employed by National Health Service organisations are employed on Agenda for Change terms and conditions. Annex 29 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook sets out the principles that should be embedded in local on-call policies. The national principles were designed to support employers to agree their own local on-call policies, therefore there may be some variation in specific local provisions.

Secondary information