Minister moves to curb senior health executives’ pay

The Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Ms Bairbre de Brún, has announced the introduction of a new system for the pay and grading of senior executives in the health and social services.

The new rules limit the total amount of pay that may be awarded to a maximum of 5 per cent and each year the Health Minister will determine the pay limits applied to each of the four performance categories.

The Minister said: "There has been considerable and understandable public concern about pay awards made to some Chief Executives and Directors in Trusts. Awards such as these cannot be justified when we have been facing such serious pressures on resources and I am determined to put an end to the last vestiges of the internal market. I am not prepared to continue with a pay system which has allowed such variations and inequities to occur and I want to see pay arrangements which are seen to be fair by all staff in the HPSS."

The Department has designed a new approach to the pay and the grading of senior executives which is claimed to be “fairer, more transparent, defensible and affordable”.

The main components of the new pay arrangements are limits on the pay awards for senior executives; terms of pay and conditions will be applied consistently and uniformly by all employers in the HPSS; and all posts covered by the new arrangements will be subject to scrutiny by a Job Evaluation Panel to determine the appropriate pay band for each post.

Ms de Brún said she was “determined to use the powers now available to me to ensure that the public can feel confident that we will have proper control over the pay of senior staff in the HPSS."

The new remuneration and grading scheme will apply immediately to all new appointments to posts at senior executive level in the HPSS.

However, while existing senior executives will be encouraged to change to the new scheme they will have the right to choose either to accept the new arrangements or retain their existing contract.

In addition some Trusts have indicated that they have liabilities on back pay to their senior executives. A recent Industrial Tribunal hearing ruled that these assessments had created a pay liability under the terms of the executives' contracts. (SP)