Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018
857. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the steps he will take to address the problem of health care assistants receiving lower pay than HSE staff for the same work in view of the fact that much of their funding comes from the HSE; his views on health care assistants receiving minimum wage while much of the revenue of profit-making private homes comes directly from the State; and if this is a policy of his Department. [55045/17]
View answerUnder Section 39 of the Health Act 2004, the HSE has in place Service Level Agreements with voluntary providers which set out the level of service to be provided for the grant to the individual organisation. Any individuals employed by these Section 39 organisations are not HSE employees and therefore, the HSE has no role in determining the salaries or other terms and conditions applying to these staff. Accordingly such arrangements offered by individual providers will vary. It is a matter for Section 39 organisations to negotiate salaries with their staff as part of their employment relationship and within the overall funding available for the delivery of agreed services.
