Disability care workers’ pay left short as voluntary providers fail to increase sleepover rates
SIPTU has condemned the failure of publicly funded disability providers to increase pay, in line with National Minimum Wage (NMW) increases, for workers in disability services who carry out sleepover shifts.
This failure is leaving frontline disability workers out of pocket, with many affected staff earnings reduced by more than €600 in earnings for 2024.
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Sharon Cregan, said: “Sleepover shifts require workers to remain on-site overnight, ensuring that essential care and support is available should a person being supported need assistance. In 2014, the Labour Court ruled that sleepover shifts constitute working time and must be paid at a rate of at least the National Minimum Wage. Since then, the HSE has provided funding to voluntary disability providers to ensure compliance with this ruling.”
However, SIPTU has been made aware that several voluntary disability providers have failed to apply the 2024 and 2025 minimum wage increases for staff for sleepover shifts. Some providers are claiming that the HSE has not allocated the necessary funding.
Cregan added: “It is completely unacceptable that disability workers are left in limbo due to this dispute regarding funding between the funder and the providers. Care Assistants working in disability services (CAIDs) rely on these payments, and with a basic starting salary of less than €33,000 per year, every euro counts. Additional payments and premium rates are a crucial part of their income, and any delay or failure to apply wage increases has a real financial impact on these essential workers.”
SIPTU representatives have written to the HSE seeking clarity regarding the funding and are engaging with the voluntary providers as employers seeking that the increases and retrospective payments be made without delay.
