Outsourcing ‘costs more than direct labour’

THE HSE is outsourcing services to avoid the recruitment embargo, but is paying more for the agency staff than if the work was carried out by its own employees, it has been claimed.

Speaking at the IMPACT trade union’s health and welfare conference in Tralee, national secretary Louise O’Donnell said when VAT and the fee per shift for each agency worker was taken into account it could be cheaper to use direct labour.

“I understand that the HSE and other health employers are using external labour to avoid the red tape of the recruitment moratorium,” she said.