Barry Cowen
Ceist:177. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated cost per year in accelerating pay equalisation by 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43645/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 22 October 2019
Ceisteanna (177)
Freagraí scríofa
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 report in the following link, laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in March 2018, estimates the point in time cost of advancing new entrants to the public service two points along their incremental scales.
https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/4035/071218124404-860d0916d18542c1baa10ffa7dc482d5.pdf#page=1
The report estimated a cost of €199.8m in respect of 60,513 new entrants, an average cost of €3,300 per FTE.
Following this report, lengthy and intensive negotiations with the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions took place over 2018 resulting in an agreement on new entrant salary scales being 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.
This is an agreement of considerable scale and complexity, each element of which was the product of negotiation with ICTU.
There are risks associated with altering the agreed model primarily associated with 1) likely inequitable outcomes between different cohorts of new entrants and 2) the applicability of the acceleration to subsequent cohorts of new entrants recruited after 2017.
Assuming such problems could be overcome, the indicative costs of bringing forward any remaining benefits under the ICTU agreement to 2022, for new entrants hired between 2011 and end 2017, would increase the estimated cost in that year from €22.9m to €65.4m.
However, it is important to note that, as with the current deal, further costs will arise from accelerating benefits to new entrants hired post 2017, on an ongoing basis, in line with continued recruitment to new entrant grades.
Furthermore, these costs exclude nurses and midwives as per Labour Court recommendation 21900.