Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 June 2021
171. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on the implications of circular 08/2019 for staff promotion and movement between public sector bodies (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34933/21]
View answerMy Department’s Circular 08/2019 - Revised arrangements applying to starting pay sets out the revised arrangements to apply to starting pay on promotion and appointment for existing civil and public servants.
The revised starting pay arrangements in the Circular were agreed between the Official and Staff Sides at General Council.
The Circular sets out reforming arrangements to modernise and simplify the way existing civil servants are treated when promoted from confined competitions or appointed/recruited from open competition to posts in the Civil Service.
The revised starting pay arrangements are designed to support and facilitate the implementation of the commitment under Action 15 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan to “expand career and mobility opportunities for staff across geographic, organisational and sectoral boundaries”. The circular recognises that the starting pay arrangements whereby some appointees, who are already serving civil or public servants, would be required to start at a point of scale lower than their current point or were required to mark time for considerable periods, was an impediment to mobility.
It also addressed the commitment under Action 15 as reflected in Section 2 of the PSSA 2018-2020 which deals with the elimination of barriers to public service mobility. In particular, it addressed paragraph 2.8.3 which provided that “building on earlier work on the standardisation of terms and conditions of employment across the public service, the Parties agree to review current arrangements for starting pay on transfer and promotion in the public service with a view to simplifying and modernising the current arrangements and removing impediments to cross-sectoral mobility”.
