Childcare workers miss out on pay increase after Government funding returned

Up to €4 million in Government funding intended to give hundreds of graduate childcare workers what would have amounted to a 10 per cent pay increase is being returned by the Department of Children because the money was not accepted by industry groups involved in the pay talks.

Roderic O’Gorman has said the money was given back “from my cold dead hand” as the Government was powerless to get it to staff.

The department says the funding was allocated in the Budget to do away with a requirement that graduate early years educators and managers must have three years’ experience before they benefit from a premium payment intended to recognise higher level qualifications.

To date, €1.3 million of the money has been returned to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform because it was not drawn down during the period intended. The rest is on course to be sent back in the coming months.

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Speaking in the Dáil last week, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said he was “frustrated” that talks intended to yield pay increases across the sector had dragged on.

“Because it has not come in, some of the money we dedicated towards removing the three-year rule has been given back ... from my cold dead hand but that is the way it goes. I urge both sides to get that agreement so that we can have the money that is available, flowing to services so that they can increase pay for staff who richly deserve that increase.”

The difficulty arose because the Joint Labour Committee, the official industry group including representatives of both employers and staff established to agree the terms of an Employment Regulation Order (ERO), the sector wide deal on minimum rates of pay, was deadlocked when it came to incorporating a change into the existing agreement which would have done away with the three-year rule.

In a message to its members, Siptu blamed the two employer groups, Childhood Services Ireland and the Federation of Early Childhood Providers.

The union, which represents around 6,000 of the 27,000 workers in the sector, said the €4 million would have more than covered the increase of €1.50 per hour for the staff involved with individual employers free to keep what was left over.

Responding to a query on the issue, the department said that “based on the latest information provided by partner services on their core funding applications, the department is satisfied that the €4m is sufficient funding to extend the graduate premiums to graduate lead educators and managers with fewer than three years’ experience working in these services”.

It said, however, that as the State does not employ the staff. “Neither the Minister nor the department can set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector,” it said.

In a briefing to its members, the Federation of Early Childhood Providers said it had been “taken aback when the issue of the abolition of the three-year rule was raised without prior discussion. This omission has raised concerns and requires further deliberation.”

It said the move “would only benefit 400 graduate leads, leaving behind other graduates alongside the long-term Level 5 & 6 employees who have been the backbone of our sector for decades”.

Childcare Services Ireland (CSI), the Ibec group in the sector, echoed that statement and said they wanted to avoid any delay to the implementation of the ERO which “could have resulted in approximately 20,000 educators being denied their 5 per cent pay increase”.

The ERO, which provides for a 5 per cent increase taking graduate lead educators without three years’ experience to a minimum rate of €14.70, was agreed on Monday and sent forward for public consultation.

If the ERO is implemented without amendment in the early months of the new year there will not be another opportunity to change the three-year rule before September when the next round of Government funding for the sector begins. By then, the rest of the €4 million will have been returned.

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