Pay for residential childcare workers is to increase by up to £8,328 a year - 44.8 per cent - in a bid to attract people into the sector.
Last month Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he had been "profoundly disturbed" to discover more than 50 children had been placed in accommodation run by a private security company because health boards lacked sufficient personnel.
The increases, negotiated by IMPACT, set a new headline for public service unions as they enter the benchmarking process. It underlines the potential of the process to secure big pay rises at a time when members of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, are balloting on whether to embrace benchmarking or continue pursuing a 30 per cent pay rise.
While the increases are the highest so far negotiated under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, health board staff will have to secure a recognised formal qualification - such as a diploma in childcare - to avail of the full increase. At present, only half of the 1,300 staff involved are fully qualified.
The increases are worth between 30.5 per cent and 44.8 per cent. They include the first 5.5 per cent of the PPF and the 2 per cent increase due this month. They do not include the next two phases of the PPF, worth a further 9 per cent.
The existing grades of house parent and assistant house parent are to be replaced by two new grades of childcare worker and childcare leader. Existing staff can access the childcare leader scale immediately, provided they have formal third-level childcare qualifications. The aim is not only to reward staff who are already qualified but to provide strong incentives for those still unqualified to improve their knowledge and skills.
However, the increases also have the potential to fuel further pay demands in both public and private sectors. The next largest increase negotiated under the PPF was in the private sector. This was the 43.75 per cent rise for construction workers conceded last year.
The increases were announced simultaneously by the Minister of State for Children, Ms Mary Hanafin, and IMPACT national officer, Mr Kevin Callinan. Ms Hanafin told a conference of the Irish Association of Social Workers in Cavan that difficulty in recruiting and retaining residential childcare staff was one of the greatest problems facing the health services.