Black cleaners at Great Ormond Street hospital were subjected to “indirect race discrimination” by the wait for NHS pay terms and conditions after their services were brought in-house, a tribunal has found.
A case against the London children’s hospital brought by 80 cleaners – the majority of whom are from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds – was dismissed by an employment tribunal in 2024.
But in a judgment handed down this week in a four-year legal battle, the employment appeal tribunal (EAT) upheld their appeal against the original decision, accepting their claim that they had suffered discrimination in not getting NHS “Agenda for Change” (AfC) pay rates “immediately or shortly thereafter” when their contracts were transferred in 2021.
It is understood all staff have now been offered NHS AfC terms. If the hospital does not appeal further, the case is expected to move to discussions over financial remedy.
Between 2016 and 2021, the cleaners were employed by OCS Group UK Ltd, which held the cleaning contract at Great Ormond Street.
At the time their contracts were transferred they earned the London living wage of £10.75 an hour, rather than AfC rates of £11.50, and had inferior terms and conditions to staff directly employed by the trust under the national AfC framework, which governs NHS pay, pensions, sick pay, annual leave and other benefits.
The cleaners, who are members of the United Voices of the World union and were represented by the law firm Leigh Day, argued that the situation placed Black and minority ethnic staff at a disadvantage compared with their predominantly white peers who had been directly employed.
Petros Elia, the general secretary of United Voices of the World, said: “For too long, thousands of predominantly Black, Brown and migrant facilities workers – cleaners, porters, caterers and security staff – have been treated as second-class citizens. The EAT ruling confirms that forcing these workers to wait months or years for the pay and conditions they are legally entitled to is not just bad practice – it is unlawful race discrimination. The message to every NHS trust is clear: the era of two-tier workforces is over.”
The Leigh Day solicitor Aman Thakar said: “Our clients have shown extraordinary resilience and determination in pursuing this case.”
Great Ormond Street hospital (GOSH) said it was “carefully reviewing” the decision. A spokesperson added: “Our cleaning and domestic services colleagues are valued members of our team at GOSH. This was a complex process, and we worked hard to harmonise staff into NHS employment quickly and in ways that worked best for individual staff.”
