Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 349: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will make a statement on the pay anomaly that exists in respect of qualified and unqualified care workers being paid more than qualified nurses. [4768/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Social Care Workers (formerly known as assistant house parents) work in intellectual disability services and also work in residential and community childcare services. Social care staff provide care, protection, support, welfare and advocacy for vulnerable and dependent users of the services. In 2000 the Expert Group on Various Health Professions recommended that childcare workers be afforded formal professional status. A Joint Committee on Childcare Workers was established and it agreed interim restructuring arrangements in the context of the decision to introduce formal professional status in the area.

The pay of the grades in the area was significantly improved and all future entrants were required to hold a professional qualification. In 2002 the Report of the Joint Committee on Social Care Professionals recommended that equivalent grades in the intellectual disability sector should be professionalised in the same manner as colleagues in childcare services. In June 2002 the Public Service Benchmarking Body reported and recommended that social care workers in the intellectual disability services should receive the increases that had been granted to their counterparts in childcare services.

This increase which the social care workers received meant that their basic pay was now at a higher level than staff nurses who work in the Intellectual Disability sector. Approximately 6% of nurses are employed in intellectual disability services. This differential in favour of social care workers caused a sense of grievance among their nurse colleagues and in October 2002 nurses in the ID sector voted for industrial action.

In September 2003 a conciliation conference was held under the auspices of the Labour Relation Commission. Agreement was reached between health service employers and the Nursing Alliance (Irish Nurses Organisation, Psychiatric Nurses Association, SIPTU and IMPACT) on a mechanism for dealing with the nurses' grievances. It was agreed between employers and the Nursing Alliance that any future benchmarking exercise would be the appropriate forum to examine the full position of the Registered Mental Handicap Nurses grade vis-a-vis other Social Care Professionals. The Nursing Alliance subsequently informed employers that a ballot of nurses in the ID sector had resulted in a rejection of the agreement reached in the Labour Relations Commission.

The issue was referred to the Labour Court which issued its Recommendation (LCR17805) in April 2004. The Labour Court was satisfied that a formal pay "differential" did not exist between Childcare Workers and Registered Nurses working in the Intellectual Disability sector. The Court noted that in the understanding reached between the parties at the conciliation conference on 3rd September 2003 both sides accepted that the report of the Public Service Benchmarking Body severed all pay links and established new absolute levels of pay for benchmarked grades. There was also an acceptance that any future benchmarking exercise (or whatever subsequent arrangements are put in place for determining public service pay) would be the appropriate forum to examine the full position of the Registered Mental Handicap Nurse grade vis-À-vis other social care professionals. The Court was of the view that the claim could not be dealt with outside of the established agreements and could see no other way in which the claim could be pursued other than in accordance with the terms of the understanding reached at the conciliation conference. The Court recommended that the matter be dealt with in accordance with the understanding reached between the parties at the conciliation conference on 3rd September 2003 and that it be given priority in this Benchmarking exercise.

The second Public Service Benchmarking Body as provided for under Sustaining Progress was established in January 2006. The terms of reference were agreed with the Public Services Committee of ICTU. The terms of reference specifically state that the Benchmarking Body should consider any issues arising from any third party recommendations concerning benchmarking and any group since the Body's first report, including, specifically, Labour Court Recommendation 17805 which dealt with the pay 'anomaly' between nurses and social care workers. The INO and PNA decided not to participate in the Benchmarking exercise. The unions failed to make a written submission on behalf of their members and did not attend the oral hearings on nurses pay held on 16 October 2006. SIPTU and IMPACT who represent a minority of nurses did make submissions to the Benchmarking Body on the pay 'anomaly' between social care workers and nurses. The Report of the Benchmarking Body will be published in the latter half of 2007.

Instead of participating in the agreed process for determining public service pay the INO and PNA lodged eight cost increasing claims in December 2005, including a claim with retrospection for a 10.6% increase across all nursing and midwifery grades to place nurses' salaries at a higher level than those of social care workers. It is estimated that this claim would add €225m to annual nurses pay bill.

The Labour Court examined the eight claims in June 2006 and issued a comprehensive recommendation (LCR 18763) in November 2006. In relation to the pay 'anomaly' between nurses and social care workers, the Court noted that it had previously issued a recommendation on the issue and that this recommendation is specifically referred to in the terms of reference of the Benchmarking Body. The Court also noted that the current claim was "considerably broader in scope and encompasses the totality of nursing and midwifery grades". It was the court's view that "such a claim could only be processed through Benchmarking". In these circumstances the Court did "not recommend concession of this claim at this time".

This is a complex issue and I am conscious of the strongly held views of the nursing unions in relation to the pay differential that exists between social care workers and nurses in the ID sector. The agreement reached in the Labour Relations Commission in 2003 provided a framework for dealing with this matter. The Labour Court has examined this claim on two occasions and recommended that the unions concerned process this claim through Benchmarking as previously agreed. It remains the Government's view that this is the appropriate mechanism to resolve this contentious issue. I would ask the INO and PNA to give further consideration to the Recommendation of the Labour Court and to make the case on behalf of their members before the Benchmarking Body.