THE NHS has pledged to cover the wages of former staff who are owed wages by their new private employer.

The seven clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), which awarded the contract for patient transport to Coperforma in April, will pay ambulance drivers thousands of pounds on Friday if the company fails to do so.

The move will effectively see the taxpayer bailing out the private firm.

The NHS will then attempt to get the money back at a later date.

Yesterday, following a series of telephone conferences, Coperforma stated its intention to pay staff via the GMB union by Friday.

The debt is not actually owed by Coperforma, but by subcontractor Docklands Medical Services (DMS).

However, CCG bosses have gone after Coperforma for the money as the company is the manager of the contract.

Staff were left unpaid at the end of last month.

Twenty staff have still not been paid and September’s salaries will be due next week.

Kal Wells, 36, worked for the NHS for 16 years before moving to Coperforma’s team.

The operations manager who works in Hastings has not been paid since July 31.

He said: “My situation is that we have been served notice to leave our home.

“We’ve been here a long time but since being transferred I’ve never been paid on time.

“It’s been a nightmare. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I’m worried sick about what’s going to happen at the end of this month."

On Tuesday a meeting of the Brighton and Hove Health and Wellbeing Board was interrupted by a sit-in by the GMB after committee chairman Daniel Yates refused to take question from one of its members.

Cllr Yates told The Argus: “I was frustrated the meeting was disrupted but I completely understand their frustrations, I’m completely behind them the CCG have got to get this sorted out.”

Coperforma has paid all bills owed to DMS and earlier this month paid forward invoices to alleviate a cashflow problem the subcontractor said was caused by taking on staff made redundant by the collapse of another ambulance firm, V M Langfords.

It is not clear why Docklands has not paid their staff and director Chris Arnell did not respond to attempts to contact him yesterday.

Wendy Carberry, chief executive of the lead CCG responsible for awarding Coperforma the contract, insisted the procurement process had been “robust and competitive” and said it was not in the interests of staff or patients to take the contract away.

But she said contingency plans are in place in the event of a contractual breach by the firm and that NHS lawyers have written to Coperforma with regard to areas where there is concern the company may have failed in its responsibilities.

A CCG spokesman insisted that if pay was covered by the NHS, the CCG would seek to recoup the payment from the contract, but acknowledged that process was complex and could take six months or more.

In a statement Coperforma insisted it was financially sound and that patient transport services remained unaffected by the collapse of DMS.

WAGE DISPUTE: BACKGROUND AND FUTURE

Who is owed money?

Ambulance drivers who transport non-emergency patients to and from hospital appointments. Seventy staff got no money or only a holding payment when their pay was due on August 31. Twenty staff are still owed every penny. Their next payday is September 31.

Who do they work for?

They work for Docklands Medical Services, a private ambulance firm headquartered in London.

So Docklands owe the money?

Yes.

Why haven’t they paid up?

At the beginning of this month director Chris Arnall and his company spokesman said late payments were due to a “short term cashflow problem” caused by taking on staff made redundant when another Coperforma subcontractor, V M Langfords, folded in July.

In short, we don’t know.

And Mr Arnall is not answering questions or phone calls from reporters.

Who is paying?

Coperforma, which was awarded the £60 million four-year contract in April, agreed yesterday to pay Docklands’ staff by Friday.

What happens if they don’t?

Although their plan is fraught with legal complexities, the CCGs have committed to covering the payment if staff find they haven’t been paid on Friday. In order to do so the CCGs have sought and received special dispensation from Her Majesty’s Treasury Special Payments team. They insist they would work to recoup any such payment from the contract but acknowledge that could take months.

What will be paid and when?

Plans are for staff to get everything owed up to August 31 by the end of Friday, and everything owed to the end of September by the end of next week.

What next for the drivers?

Wendy Carberry, chief executive of the lead CCG, said that the NHS is in discussions with Coperforma and private ambulance firms to try to secure future employment for the drivers.

DMS has not gone into administration but is not currently sending vehicles out and Coperforma is not currently using DMS as a service provider.