As members will be aware, discussions on the pay award for 2024/2025 have taken place with the Health Minister and the Dept. of Health over the last number of weeks. At the most recent meeting, the Health Minister outlined a “process” to trade unions regarding how the Pay Review Body (PRB) recommendation of 5.5% on all AFC pay points, might be paid. NIPSA emphasises that this was not a formal offer to trade unions on pay.
The Health Minister advised that despite having money allocated to him for the pay award by the Treasury, within an overall Health budget of over £6 billion p.a and having already taken ‘savings’ from HSC Trust’s of well over £200 million this year, he was currently unable to meet the full PRB recommendation of 5.5% for HSC Pay in 2024/25, due to financial pressures. Instead the Health Minister outlined a “process” on how he proposed HSC staff might be paid this year’s pay award.
The Health Minister outlined to trade unions a proposal which involved paying HSC staff for 10 months of the 2024/2025 financial year, and he would then find the remaining two months pay from monitoring rounds, slippage monies or new monies etc. He stated he was committed to “pay parity” and that the full amount of HSC pay for 24/25 would be honoured as soon as he was able to locate the money for this. He stated he hoped the first part of this pay offer would be paid in March’s salary.
Over the last week NIPSA’s Health Panel have held two meetings to carefully consider this “process”. The panel took the decision not to endorse this approach by the Health Minister, for the following reasons:
- Irrespective of how this is pitched, this in-year pay award is outside the pay parity arrangements with England.
- There is no definitive timescale for the remaining two months to be paid.
- There is a danger that any future pay award for 2025/2026 will use the same method of pay remuneration of dipping into funding from the following financial year
- Personal guarantees by individual politicians do not guarantee members can pay bills.
This approach by the Health Minister is little short of farcical. No other group of Health Workers in England, Scotland or Wales have been offered a 10 month pay increase with no clear definitive timeline on when the outstanding amount will be paid, with pay due to workers this year slipping into the following financial year. Why – because it would be considered an insult and tantamount to an April fools joke.
While NIPSA fully understands members need to see money in their bank accounts, this is a ‘klarna type’ instalment plan approach to HSC pay and is completely unacceptable. And let us be clear – the Health Minister has already funds sufficient to meet the HSC pay bill. Diverting those funds to other priorities however worthy, is a political choice for both the Minister and the NI Executive. A choice compounded by the Minister trying to use HSC pay as leverage for additional money for the HSC.
However, we do wish to emphasise, the rejection of this approach is not a commitment to moving to industrial action. NIPSA, and we understand our sister unions, will monitor the situation carefully. We will hold the Minister to account and lobby for the full and prompt payment of the 24/25 pay award before April 2025. This will include campaigning on the issue of public service pay.
There will clearly be developments over the coming weeks on this issue and we will keep members updated as appropriate.
Regards
Damien Maguire
Joint Branch Secretary