£25m Backdated Pay Award Announced For Healthcare Workers

Health Minister Robin Swann has announced a further in-year pay award for healthcare workers totalling £25 million.

The Minister said that the award was being made utilising funding already within the Department for Health budget.

The funding will be used for:

• An additional 1.5% non-consolidated pay uplift for AfC Bands 1-3.

• An additional 1% non-consolidated pay uplift in AfC Bands 4-7 and for F1 doctors.

• And an additional 0.5% non-consolidated pay uplift for all other directly employed HSC staff.

The payments are to be backdated in full to 01 April, 2021.

Minister Swann said: "Although we are hopefully through the worst of the Omicron wave in terms of case numbers, I am acutely aware that pressures remain immense across our health service. So whilst the public narrative will likely soon shift towards the longed for lifting of restrictions, I am fully aware that the demands on hospital and community services are likely to remain intense for some weeks yet. Those pressures are being exacerbated further by Covid-related sickness levels which reflect the ongoing high levels of transmission across the community.

"The blunt truth is that our health service would not be standing at all, were it not for the superhuman efforts of staff. I sincerely hope you are never placed in that position again.

"Whilst this additional funding is, in part, an acknowledgement of the particular challenges you have faced, I’m very aware that there could never be enough to truly repay you for the sacrifices of the last two years. I have tried to devise a scheme that best utilitised the funding I had available and one which was deliberately slightly more generous to our lower paid workers

"I can promise you that I will continue to fight with all my energy for better funding for health and social care and better wages for staff. That’s my heartfelt pledge for the remainder of my time as Minister and for whatever comes next for me.

"We also have to look ahead to what needs to be done after the pandemic. That time will come and we need to be clear about the extent of the rebuilding work required for our health service. It can be compared realistically to the task of reconstructing a country’s ravaged infrastructure after a long war.

"Despite all the challenges and uncertainties, I remain confident about the future. That’s because I know that we are blessed with an incredible workforce, who deliver compassionate care every single day and who have carried Northern Ireland through the last two years.

"So thank you again for all that you continue to do and once again I'm incredibly proud to be your Minister."