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Northern Ireland's health minister has announced an increase in the rate of mileage payments for Agenda for Change (AfC) health and social care staff.
Currently, work related mileage is paid at 56p per mile for the first 3,500 miles, and 20p per mile thereafter. The minister has decided to increase the 20p rate to 30p for six months, after which the change will be reviewed. It has also been mentioned that updating the payroll systems will "take some time", but the payments will be backdated.
Meanwhile, trusts have been encouraged to issue fuel cards to eligible staff after they have reached the 3,500 mile threshold.
Amidst the current cost of living crisis and soaring fuel prices, health and social care staff that have to make a lot of work-related trips are strongly being affected. The health minister stated:
“I have taken this decision after careful consideration of options prepared by offi cials in recent weeks. I need to reiterate that every decision I make to allocate additional monies is taken at risk at present. I do not have a finalised budget and funding pressures in health may be significant by the second half of this financial year. I am very mindful of the cost of living pressures on health and social care staff and across the wider community. While I am pleased to confirm this mileage rate increase, I would also stress that a sustained and funded cross-Departmental approach is the b est way to address cost of living issues and provide our citizens with the support they need.”
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Northern Ireland: NHS to receive pay increase Published: 12 December 2022 Emailed: 14 December 2022
National Health Service (NHS) staff in Northern Ireland will be receiving a pay rise in 2022/23, this has been confirmed by The Department of Health. Most health staff will be awarded at least a minimum of £1,400 per annum in pay, while salaried doctors and dentists have been awarded a 4.5 per cent increase. The workers are set to receive these uplifts by the end of this year, with both changes being backdated to 1 April 2022. Recommendations from The NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) have been executed in full by the department of Health. A departmental representa tive said: “The Department shares the frustration of all our HSC colleagues in the delays in implementing the pay recommendations for 2022/23. While the former Minister had accepted the recommendations in full, the lack of a public sector pay policy and budgetary uncertainty prevented any further progress. These hurdles have now been cleared for this year and the department will now move to implement these pay awards as a matter of urgency to ensure colleagues see their pay increase as soon as possible.” Application of the pay award, for Agenda for Change staff, will ensure maintenance of pay uniformity with colleagues in England. Departments are now able to make awards, but some are more advanced in the process than others. However, decisions are awaited on other public sector employees.
The NHS Pay Review Body covers Agenda for Change staff and the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body which covers salaried doctors and dentists. You can read more on the NHSPRB and its role on the GOV.UK site.
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Northern Ireland redundancy limits announced Published: 28 March 2023 Emailed: 29 March 2023
Redundancy and unfair dismissal compensatory limits are a devolved issue for Northern Ireland, therefore, the legislation is amended separately.
The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2023 has confirmed that:
• the maximum amount of “a week’s pay” for the purpose of calculating a redundancy payment will increase from £594 to £669 • The limit on amount of compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increase from £94,063 to £105,915 .
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