Róisín Shortall
Ceist:226. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated cost of addressing pay equalisation in the public sector. [36684/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraFriday, 6 September 2019
Ceisteanna (226)
Freagraí scríofa
I refer the Deputy to Parliamentary Question No. 307 of 23 July 2019.
Under the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) 2018 – 2020, it was agreed to examine the remaining salary scale issues in respect of post January 2011 entry grades. The attached report, laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in March 2018, estimates the point in time cost of pay equalisation of new entrants to the public service.
The report estimated a cost of €199.8m for pay equalisation for 60,513 new entrants, an average cost of €3,300 per FTE.
Following this report, an agreement on new entrant salary scales was reached in September 2018.
The main components of the agreement are:
- where two additional scale points were applied to pay scales under the Haddington Road Agreement, it was agreed that there will be two separate interventions in the pay scales as they apply to new entrant public servants recruited since January 2011.
- the two separate interventions will take place at point 4 and point 8 of the pay scales. The practical effect of this is that for new entrants the relevant points on the scale will be bypassed, thereby reducing the time spent on the scale for progression to the maximum point.
- this measure will apply from 1 March 2019 and will be applied to each new entrant as they reach the relevant scale points (point 4 and point 8) on their current increment date.
The cost of this measure during the remaining term of the PSSA is €75 million, with the full cost of the measure based on current data and public service numbers (2017) accruing over the period out to 2026. It is estimated that some 58% (35,750) of new entrants will benefit from this measure in year 1, rising to 78% (47,750) by year 2.