THE GOVERNMENT is expected this week to extend the new scheme offering financial incentives to staff to take a three-year career break to employees in the HSE.
Under the proposal, which was set out for the civil service last week, staff agreeing to leave for three years will be given a special payment of up to €12,500 annually for the duration of their absence.
Trade unions were told by HSE management that arrangements for the scheme should be available by the end of this week.
The new career break scheme is separate to the Government’s plans for an early retirement arrangement which will also be available for staff in the health sector.
The new schemes are aimed at reducing the number of personnel on the State payroll.
The new career break scheme in the health sector is expected to be broadly similar to that announced by the Department of Finance for civil servants last week.
However, some trade union leaders are concerned about the impact on services if large numbers opt for the career break arrangement.
It is expected the Government will insist that staff who are leaving can only be replaced following official sanction from the Department of Finance, as will be the case under the early retirement scheme.
In its proposal for the civil service last week, the Department of Finance said successful applicants for a career break under the new scheme who worked full-time would be paid an incentive payment of a third of gross basic pay to a maximum of €12,500 a year, payable quarterly in arrears, for each year in the three-year period.
The Department of Finance proposal states: “Career breaks are not available for taking up paid employment in the State or for educational purposes where the student/trainee is in an employment relationship with the training body and is in receipt of a normal salary/wage.”
The Government has also offered civil servants a new scheme under which they can take special unpaid leave for up to 13 weeks.
Meanwhile, the State’s largest public sector trade union, Impact, has argued that the Government’s proposed new early retirement scheme for the public service “may not be legally sound”.
The proposed new scheme, which will allow an eligible civil or public servant over the age of 50 to retire without “actuarial deduction” of pension entitlements, is expected to be considered at the conference of Impact’s health sector staff in Castlebar this week. The conference is also expected to discuss proposed health sector cutbacks as well as the pension levy.
Under the proposed early retirement scheme, 10 per cent of the relevant lump sum will be paid immediately with the balance paid later at the normal retirement age of 60 or 65.
However, for those who apply to retire now, the full lump sum will not be taxed even if the Government introduces such a measure in the future.
Impact said the proposal was a “recipe for public service chaos”, which, in its present form, would force thousands of public servants, mostly on modest incomes, to gamble on their retirement income.