Homecare dispute nears resolution after providers accept HSE tender offer

A dispute that threatened services to more than 40,000 recipients of private home care countrywide has moved closer to resolution after private homecare providers accepted a tender offer from the Health Service Executive.

However, Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI), a representative body for private homecare companies, has said it will continue campaigning for amendments to the new agreement before it comes into effect on August 14th.

HCCI chief executive Joseph Musgrave said accepting the offer was a “responsible step” but that several issues including paid travel time for care providers remain unresolved in the agreement.

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During pay talks, which began in 2022, care providers called for a living wage as well as an allowance for travel time and mileage. According to Mr Musgrave, the HSE has “refused to state what they mean by a living wage” and has “refused to engage with the sector to calculate travel time”.

Mr Musgrave also said the HCCI has been told that reform to provide a predictable income for carers has been “taken off the table” by the HSE.

“Despite all this, providers have taken the responsible step to accept the tender offer in the hope that we can rectify these wrongs between now and 14th August when the new contract will come into force,” added Mr Musgrave.

The majority of homecare provided in the State is supplied by HCCI members and the National Community Care Network. More than 40,000 people receive care through these organisations, which was charged to the HSE at an hourly rate of €26.50.

Last month, a tender offer of €28.50 per hour was advanced and then withdrawn by the HSE. The new proposal, which has been accepted, will mean pay rates rise to €31 per hour.

An HSE spokeswoman said the Department of Health had approved its tender offer be progressed to an “authorisation scheme”. The spokeswoman said that department approval is subject to several reforms, including travel time, addressing the living wage and reforming legacy rates.

“It is anticipated that the authorisation scheme will commence in mid-August 2023 subject to completion of the formal internal HSE approval process.”

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Mr Musgrave acknowledged that there had been engagement from the Health Service Executive on the living wage and legacy payments from December last year. But he added that those talks stopped in March 2023.

“We started talking to the HSE in earnest in December last year. Between December and early March, it was quite intensive engagement: what should the living wage be; [and] how should we pay for mileage and legacy-rate reform? In March, everyone stopped talking to us. The Minister, [the] Department of Health, they said a strict line of communications was in place but didn’t say what that is. There’s an intellectual dishonesty in saying to the sector, ‘we will pay travel time but we won’t tell you how much we have set aside to pay for this’. They are also saying they won’t pay for mileage.”

Mr Musgrave said he will meet Minister of State at the department Mary Butler next week and is optimistic further engagement on issues such as the living wage will take place.

“To be fair to the Minister, she has increased the funding [and] cut the waiting list for new homecare packages. She has done a number of important things and I think she gets this issue. I don’t know if she’s got the backing of the senior echelons of Government to get this over the line.”

Ms Butler said she is committed to taking measures that will make the homecare sector “more attractive and a more viable career option with the national living wage, travel time and legacy rates all being addressed”.

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