Home helps to get minimum hours

For the first time in 30 years, some 10,000 home helps employed by the HSE are to be given contracts which will guarantee them a minimum number of hours of work each week.

After a long campaign by the home helps and a detailed process under the auspices of the Labour Court, the court yesterday issued a binding recommendation in which it said each person employed by the HSE as a home help should be given an annualised contract guaranteeing at least seven hours of work per week.

In making the recommendation, the court also said it “noted” the HSE’s intention to increase that minimum progressively to 10 hours “on the basis of shared comprehensive data”.