Siptu: Work permit salary boost for home carers may not increase pay in private sector
Siptu has warned the increased salary requirement may not be matched by private providers, which could mean migrant staff will opt only for HSE jobs.
It is uncertain whether an increase in the salary required for work permits issued to non-EU home carers and healthcare assistants will boost pay in private healthcare, Siptu has warned.
A recruitment crisis faces the sector but the union warned this increased salary requirement may not be matched by private providers. This could mean migrant staff will opt only for HSE jobs, leaving gaps in the private sector unfilled.
From January 17, 2024, any application made for a general work permit to the Department of Enterprise for a home carer or a healthcare assistant will see the salary requirement increase from €27,000 to €30,000.
This is then expected to increase to €34,000 in January 2025, before hiking another €5,000 in January 2026 to €39,000.
Minister of state at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond, said these changes will bring "all permit holders in line with the minimum requirement of a salary of at least €30,000 to avail of family reunifications as a starting point".
"This is particularly important to healthcare assistants and home carers who do such important work in our communities," he added.
However, Siptu health spokeswoman Aideen Carberry told the that it "remains to be seen if the income threshold for healthcare assistants and home carers to €30,000 will result in private sector employers offering higher salaries to carers in the sector".
"The reality is that the public sector and unionised private sector employments offer far greater opportunities for earnings and terms and conditions of employment."
Rates of pay vary across the private sector, depending on the employer.
Last year, the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group on Home Carers and Nursing Home Health Care Assistants recommended that carers and home carers be paid the living wage.
In July this year, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly announced an increase in funding for State-funded home support providers, to ensure that carers are paid the living wage. However, any home support provider outside of this arrangement could be paying as little as minimum wage, in theory.
However, in the public sector, healthcare assistants (home support) start at €32,723 per annum which rises to €41,488. This is above the new rate introduced for the general work permit for January 2024.
The salary scales have been updated as of October 1 this year under the Building Momentum pay agreement.
A spokesperson for the HSE told the that the announcement made on Wednesday "won't have an immediate impact on the relevant scale in the HSE".
Ms Carberry said, in the public sector, employees would also have access to pensions, paid sick leave, and decent travel and subsistence rates, and "if these terms are lacking in the private sector, staff will vote with their feet to take up employment directly with the HSE due to the more favourable conditions of employment".
Meanwhile, the new expansion in the work permit process will also see the salary requirements for most general work permit holders rise from €30,000 to €34,000 in January 2024.
Horticultural workers and meat processors' salary requirements will also increase from €22,000 to €30,000, bringing them in line with family reunification thresholds.
Eleven roles have been added to the critical skills occupations list, including meteorologists, chemical engineers, and optometrists.
Thirty-two roles have been removed from the ineligible occupations list, which allows them to be eligible for a general work permit, including social care workers, electricians, car mechanics, and bakers.
