Clare Daly
Question:198. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when the Public Service Pay Commission will conclude; and when and the way in which its recommendations will be implemented. [39748/18]
View answerTuesday, 2 October 2018
Questions (198)
Written answers
The initial Report of the Public Service Pay Commission was published on Tuesday, 9th May 2017. For its initial report the Commission was asked to provide input on how the unwinding of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest legislation should proceed having regard to:
- The evolution of pay trends in the public and private sectors, based on published data;
- A comparison of pay rates for identifiable groups within the public service with prevailing non-public sector market rates;
- International rates and comparisons where possible; and
- The state of the national finances
The Commission was also asked to give consideration to other conditions of service of public servants, including tenure and pension, as well as recruitment and retention trends in the public service.
The findings of the Commission contributed to and gave informed considerations in relation to Public Service remuneration by Public Service employers and staff interests in negotiations on the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020.
The second report of the Public Service Pay Commission, published on the 4th of September, went further and investigated recruitment and retention difficulties in some of the specific areas previously identified, starting with the health sector. Where a difficulty was identified, the PSPC were to further examine the full range of causal factors, including, remuneration, planned future adjustments to remuneration under the PSSA, supply constraints on qualified staff, career structures, work environment, and HR practices etc.
The main findings of the report were that there were no generalised recruitment and retention problems in respect of nursing and midwifery but some difficulties exist in meeting workforce requirements in specific areas, that training and promotion are the key influencers of migration and turnover in NCHDs and that there is a general difficulty in recruiting consultants, with certain specialities and locations experiencing more significant problems.
There was a commitment between Public Service employers and staff representatives to meet within four weeks of the publication to discuss issues around implementation of recommendations outlined in the Report.
Following these discussions it was decided that additional incentives recommended by the Commission (increase by 20% of existing Specialist Qualification and Location Allowances and extension of such allowances to Maternity Services on a similar basis and the eligibility requirements for Senior Staff Nurse /Midwife to be reduced to 17 years) would apply from 1 March 2019. These increases will be confined to parties covered by the Public Service Stability Agreement.
The Public Service Pay Commission will next proceed to explore recruitment and retention issues impacting on other grades and sectors of the Public Service identified in its 2017 report with further modules to be completed over the coming months.