VIRTUALLY ALL senior administrative staff in local authorities around the State are facing reductions in leave arrangements under the Government’s new public service reforms, official documents show.
The files compiled by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform also reveal that it was not only county managers in some local authorities but also other senior personnel who have been entitled to leave of more than 40 days a year.
The official files, which have been seen by The Irish Times, show that in Mayo County Council, for example, the leave entitlement for staff at grade eight and above is set at 45 days a year.
In Roscommon County Council the leave entitlement for staff at this grade and above is 41 days a year, while in Kerry County Council it is 40 days a year.
Staff at grade eight level are roughly equivalent to assistant principal officers in the Civil Service.
There was considerable controversy earlier this year when it emerged that county managers in some local authorities had leave entitlements of more than 40 days a year. The county managers voluntarily agreed several months ago to a new maximum leave level of 32 days.
However, leave arrangements for other senior local authority staff were not made known.
Asked about the leave level for senior local authority staff set out in its files, the department said: “The leave allowances for staff over and above grade eight are the figures outlined in the table. They are the allocations of annual leave but individuals do not necessarily avail of the full allocation. One exception [is] the waiver by the county managers to 32 days.”
Staff at grade eight are on a pay scale of €64,426 to €84,036. The next grade up in local authorities is director of services which is roughly equivalent to principal officer in the Civil Service.
Under reforms announced last month, the maximum annual leave level for all staff across the public service will be set at 32 days a year from 2012.
However those who lose leave under the new arrangement will be compensated with a once-off entitlement equivalent to 1½ times the level of leave lost.
The Government has not stated how many staff will lose leave under the reforms.
The Government’s intention under the new reforms was to standardise leave arrangements across the public service with a view to facilitating movement from one area to another.
However the official files show that in some areas – particularly among clerical officers where unless staff secure promotions there will be no change to current arrangements – leave levels will still vary considerably for serving personnel even between different local authorities.
The files show that the leave allowance for a clerical officer in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown in Dublin is 25 days a year. The current figures for equivalent staff in Sligo and Wexford is 33 days (this will fall to 32 days under the Government’s reforms).
In the Civil Service, the existing level of leave for clerical officers ranges from 22 to 24 days while at the equivalent of grade eight and above it runs from 27 to 33 days.
The files state that in local authorities the average leave level for clerical officers is 29.3 days while at grade eight and above the average is 37.5. The files state that for personnel in local authorities at grade eight level and above the current minimum leave level allocation is 35 days while the maximum is 45 days.
For staff at grade eight level and above in the HSE the average leave level is 34.9 days.