EXCLUSIVE

Tesco’s decision to reduce its locum rates by 50p an hour from next month has sparked a debate among C+D readers about whether the pay cut is justified.
 
In a letter sent to a Tesco locum last month and seen by C+D, the supermarket said it would reduce its hourly pay by approximately 50p for all shifts after July 20 following a “recent review of market rates”. The supermarket confirmed to C+D that it had made a “small reduction” to its locum rates.
 
Readers posting on the C+D website were split over the necessity of the pay cut, with some arguing that the sector should boycott the supermarket while others claimed it was an inevitable response to the oversupply of pharmacists.

Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) director John Murphy told C+D that some locums "might choose not to work for organisations that have treated them badly". But a boycott would struggle to have an impact due to a lack of "solidarity in the profession", he said.

"For every person who is prepared to boycott, there will be two people ready to take their place," he said.

The PDA and the PDA Union were setting up a task force to decide how they could support locums, Mr Murphy said. "In these times of supply and demand, organisations believe they can play around with locum rates to make more money," he added.

Locum pharmacist Philip Sealey said Tesco had been unable to confirm what rate it would pay him for shifts in August and September. “I thus refused the bookings, mindful that - given the excess of pharmacists being churned out - there are a myriad who will accept whatever is going,” he said.
 
Community pharmacist Stephen McGonigle also said the sector should “bring on” a boycott to protest against the pay cut.
 

"Supply and demand prevails”

But locum pharmacist John Willetts said the Tesco rate drop was proof that the “law of supply and demand will always prevail”. “It doesn’t matter if it’s peaches, paper or pharmacists - if there is an excess of something, the price goes down,” he posted on the C+D site.
 
Locum pharmacist Sachin Vadgama said Tesco’s rates were “well above the market rate” and he “did not blame” the supermarket for dropping rates after it posted a £6.4 billion annual loss in April.
 
Community pharmacist John Randell agreed that its payments to locums were still “far better than industry rates” and readers should “stop complaining”. Locums working for other companies were “lucky” if they got an hourly rate “with a number two at the front”, he added.
 

Current Tesco rates

Although Tesco would not confirm its rates to C+D, a reader posting anonymously on the C+D website claimed the supermarket paid locums an hourly rate of £20.50 until 7pm, followed by £24.50 until 10pm and £25.50 for any later shifts. Pharmacists were paid an extra £1.50 an hour if they completed an MUR during their shift, they said.
 
Mr Sealey claimed these rates were the lowest of three “geographical bands” that the supermarket applied to its stores across the country.

The average hourly locum rate across the sector last year was £21, a £3 drop since 2008, according to figures from C+D’s most recent salary survey. 
 

Have you been affected by the drop in Tesco locum rates?

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