THOUSANDS OF health service staff have had their fortnightly salary payments delayed for a day due to a technical error.
The Health Service Executive said yesterday that the delay had arisen in areas where it had used a private contractor to calculate the pay due to staff and to set up payment to the staff through its bank accounts.
Staff affected by the delay were those in the south, the northeast, the northern area, east-coast area, the southwest and in the HSE’s shared services and corporate divisions.
In a memo to staff yesterday, the HSE’s national director of finance Liam Woods said: “The effect of the delay in payment is that staff who are normally paid every second Thursday and due to be paid today will not now be paid until tomorrow, Friday, December 31st.”
Mr Woods said that while the delay did not affect all members of staff in the areas concerned, it did affect “a significant proportion”.
“A failure to pay staff on the due date is a significant concern for HSE.
“We are currently examining the reason for this delay in payment and will endeavour to ensure that such an event does not happen again.”
In a statement last night, the HSE said that the delay in the payment for a day was due to “a technical error”.
It said that it had been made aware of the payment delay yesterday morning.