The Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) is funded under Section 39 of the Health Act 2004. The Health Service Executive (HSE) has in place Service Level Agreements with providers funded under Section 39 of the Health Act 2004, that set out the level of service to be provided for the grant to the individual organisation and requirements in relation to standards of care. The HSE has established a Governance Framework to cover funding relationships with all Non Statutory Agencies. It is the policy of the HSE that all funding arrangements with Section 39 agencies are formalised by complying with this Governance Framework.
The HSE has implemented a measure of withholding 20% of funding from agencies which have not completed the necessary Governance Arrangement process within the required timeframe of 1 March 2017. Every effort has been made by the HSE to encourage agencies to complete this process within the timeframe, including extending the timeframe to 1 April for some agencies. Refusal to complete the Governance Arrangement due to pay restoration issues, is not acceptable to the HSE.
With regard to the IWA specifically, this organisation was unable to complete these governance arrangements outlined above. Consequently, 20% of their funding under their Service Level Agreement has been withheld. The full funding will be returned to the agency on completion of the Governance Arrangement process.
As outlined to the Deputy in my reply of the 3rd May last, staff in Section 39 agencies were not subject to the provisions of the Public Service Agreements or the FEMPI legislation which imposed the associated pay reductions. Accordingly, any arrangements offered by each service provider in relation to its employees terms and conditions, including rates of pay, may vary.
As the Deputy's question in relation to the provision of personal assistant services relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the HSE for direct reply to the Deputy.
