Seanad debates

Wednesday, 22 September 2021

Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters

Special Educational Needs

10:30 am

Photo of Marie SherlockMarie Sherlock (Labour)
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I am delighted the Minister is in the Chamber today. As she knows, families and children who depend on school escorts know the importance of that role in ensuring children can go to school in a semi-independent way. School escorts are low-paid workers and many of them have to engage in other work to supplement their income. Often they are special needs assistants, SNAs, or in other work. It has only come to light in the past fortnight to three weeks that the impact of circular 0024/2021, which was issued last April, by my measurement and the measurement of some of the school escorts and school principals who are administering the pay for school escorts, is a unilateral pay cut imposed on many school escorts. Anybody working 230 or fewer hours per term or, on average, 4.6 or fewer hours per day will be worse off because of this new pay arrangement. The new pay arrangement is, effectively, to get rid of the rolling up of the holiday pay, the additional 8% which was incorporated into the basic hourly pay, and to set aside days in respect of holidays.

The Department set out in the circular that this had to be in line with the European working time directive. To be frank, it is not at all apparent why this would be the case. Of course, school escorts were going to get holidays anyway at Christmas, Easter and during the summer. One school principal said to me that the impact of this pay cut for the school escorts in his school amounts to just short of €500 per year, which is a large amount of money for a low-paid worker. I am seeking answers today with regard to the rationale behind the circular and the impact of the circular on school escorts. I note that within the circular there is an assurance that no school escort will be worse off, yet when we do the figures we know that some escorts working 230 or fewer hours per term will be worse off. Very serious questions are being posed here and I am seeking reassurance that no school escort will be worse off because of this change in how school escorts are paid.

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I support the comments she made about the importance and significance of the work that is done by school escorts. However, before I address the specific issue, I will provide an outline of the extent of the school transport system.

The school transport scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020-21 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported daily to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country, at a cost of over €224.7 million in 2020. There exists within the special needs transport scheme the appointment of a school bus escort where a child's care and safety needs while on school transport are such as to require the support of an escort. The purpose of Circular 0024/21 is to inform hourly-paid bus escorts in recognised primary, secondary and community and comprehensive schools of the changes to pay arrangements for hourly-paid bus escorts with effect from the commencement of the 2021-22 academic year.

The hourly rates paid to bus escorts have heretofore included an element in respect of annual leave. This practice is known as "rolled-up holiday pay". The effect of the circular is to cease the practice of paying rolled-up holiday pay to such staff and to introduce a separate payment in respect of holiday pay. This change is being made to bring the method of remunerating such staff into line with the European Union working time directive, following a decision of the European Commission. It is important to note that the change should not result in the overall remuneration of such staff being changed. The pay of a staff member under the new arrangements set out in the circular in respect of any period of employment should be equal to the pay which the staff member would have received for the corresponding period of employment under the pre-existing arrangements.

However, the Department has recently received a number of queries from school authorities who are experiencing anomalies in terms of pay and annual leave when trying to implement the criteria set down in circular 0024/2021. In response to these queries the Department has carried out a full review of the circular and has identified that the calculation method in the circular was based on previous similar circulars for other school staff. However, as bus escorts can work outside usual school hours, this results in an incorrect calculation. The Department apologises for any inconvenience or confusion that has arisen in schools as a result. The Department is currently amending Circular 0024/2021.It is expected that the revised version will be published next week to ensure the correct approach is followed.

Photo of Marie SherlockMarie Sherlock (Labour)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. I am most relieved to hear that the issue has been identified and acknowledged within the Department. My only question now concerns the fact that by the time the new circular is circulated and implemented within schools, a number of weeks will have passed. It needs to be ensured that no school escort is out of pocket from the beginning of the school year. I am seeking that reassurance form the Minister.

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator again for raising the matter. It is an important matter because there is valuable work ongoing. I can confirm that as this is amended and corrected, no one will be disadvantaged as a consequence of how it arose in the first place.