Anna Samantha
- Seven new trusts have access to the Earned Wage Access (EWA) tool, giving staff instant access to their earned pay through Allocate InstantPay
- NHS staff using InstantPay can now access bank shifts wages immediately, instead of waiting up to 6 weeks
- Allocate InstantPay also allows staff to track wages, access financial educational tools and save direct from salary
Over 100K NHS staff now have access to Allocate Software’s InstantPay solution powered by Wagestream after seven new trusts decided to give staff real-time access to their earned pay whenever they need it.
This flurry of interest in InstantPay represents a 27.7% jump in the number of NHS staff able to use the Allocate InstantPay product and brings the number of NHS trusts using it to 26.
The latest NHS trusts to launch InstantPay are:
- Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
- Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust
- Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
- James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
InstantPay allows staff to receive a percentage of their accrued pay any day of the month, in real-time, for a simple flat fee of £1.75 per transaction. Health and care organisations are particularly drawn to the tool because they can opt to release 100% of pay earned during overtime shifts immediately, making it much easier to fill rotas with bank staff, rather than agency workers, who are significantly more expensive.
Five NHS Trusts are already using Allocate InstantPay — they are Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, and Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust.
As well as encouraging bank staff to undertake more shifts, InstantPay also reduces the anxiety associated with unexpected expenses and financial pressures. Both problems have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
By giving health and care workers access to money they have already earned, whenever they need it, they are less likely to need to rely on expensive forms of credit and fall into debt. Wagestream’s own research shows that 77% of their users felt less stressed, 38% had avoided going into their overdraft and 43% said they had avoided using a payday loan.
Virginia Massaro, Chief Financial Officer of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We rely on agency staff to support our continued efforts in keeping staffing levels safe especially during these unprecedented times, the costs are significant for all NHS trusts, and any innovation which increases the use of bank staff is to be encouraged. We’re excited about the impact that InstantPay is going to have. Giving staff the chance to access their bank pay immediately is a win-win situation for both them and the Trust, and it’s great to be able to give members of the team more control over their money.”
Peter Briffett, CEO and Co-Founder of Wagestream, commented:
“More and more NHS trusts are launching InstantPay because they know that reducing financial stress for staff and incentivising greater take up of overtime shifts is mutually beneficial. We are very proud to partner with Allocate to power the InstantPay solution, and bring better financial health to critical frontline workers’.
Nick Wilson, CEO at Allocate Software, said:
“Allocate’s partnership with Wagestream means we can help to ease some of the financial pressures that affect many of the healthcare workforce. Our InstantPay solution helps healthcare organisations offer employees an unbeatable proposition when it comes to financial support, resilience and wellbeing. This is also proving to be an incredibly powerful tool in reducing agency spend.”
