Pandemic bonus to be paid to workers still waiting by the 'end of November'

Kenneth Fox

Many of the remaining workers who have yet to receive their €1,000 pandemic recognition payment will have done so by the end of November, the HSE had said

As the Irish Examiner reports, while the payment was first announced in January, some healthcare staff have yet to receive it.

The State has struggled to pay all eligible workers because the likes of agency workers, Section 38 employees, — agencies funded by the HSE whose workers are categorised as public servants — and third-party contractors can be difficult to identify.

The recognition payment was initiated by the State as a means of compensating frontline workers for their collective efforts in managing public health during the lockdown periods of Covid-19.

Last month the HSE awarded a tender to consultants Kosi to help in delivering the pandemic payment to non-HSE staff.

A spokesperson said that the HSE, with support from Kosi, is “engaged in a process” to implement the payment of the bonus to workers in non-HSE and non-Section 38 organisations.

That cohort of workers includes those employed in private sector nursing homes, Section 39 (in receipt of State grant aid) long-term care facilities for those with disabilities, agency workers in the HSE, and home help or home care assistants contracted to the HSE.

The spokesperson said that communication had issued from the HSE on November 1st to organisations of potentially eligible employees detailing how those bodies could apply for the payment for their workers.

“The HSE intends to make payments around mid-November 2022 to employers who have returned their costed liability regarding their eligible employees,” the spokesperson said.

“(This) should permit them to pay those employees on or about the end November 2022,” they said.

The spokesperson acknowledged, however, that not all eligible workers will necessarily be identified for remuneration via the initial November tranche of payments, meaning some staff will not receive their bonus heading into Christmas.