Pay Boost for New Entrants kicks in today
Thousands of ‘new entrants’ working in healthcare across the public service are to receive increases in pay from today (Friday, 1st March).
The deal, negotiated by SIPTU and other unions under the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) will see Ambulance Professionals, Radiographers, Nurses, Midwives and Support Grade staff recruited since 2011 receive a pay boost of up to €3,500.
The change happens when each worker affected hits their fourth and eighth increment date. This arrangement will see a pay increase and ensure that new entrants’ reach the top of their pay scales over the same time period as colleagues hired before 2011.
The term ‘new entrants’ refers to people who started work in the health and public service, and organisations linked to it for pay purposes, after 2011, when reduced pay scales for new staff were imposed by the Government without agreement.
These scales, which were worth 10% less at every point, were abolished at the insistence of the unions under the 2013 Haddington Road Agreement.
However, until now, new entrants continued to have more lengthy pay scales than their longer-serving colleagues, with two lower pay points at the beginning of each scale.
The PSSA established a process to address this problem. Following detailed discussions and inputs from SIPTU and other unions, this resulted in the solution that takes effect from today.
