The Haddington Road Agreement

Public Service Stability Agreement 2013 - 2016

Full Text of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2013 - 2016

Department of Public Expenditure & Reform Public Sector Stability Agreement FAQs

Dear Colleagues,

The Haddington Road Agreement (HRA) came into operation on 1 July 2013 covering those grades whose representative unions have agreed to be bound by its terms, and have registered that agreement with the Labour Relations Commission. We have been advised by the HEA that on 2 August 2013, the LRC registered the acceptance of the Haddington Road Agreement by UNITE.  Accordingly, with effect from 2 August 2013 the terms of the Haddington Road Agreement now apply to university staff in place of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013.

The main provisions of HRA in respect of pay is as follows:

* The 5.5% reduction applies to all salary below €80,000, not solely the portion of salary which is between €65,000 and €80,000.

• Salary is to be taken to mean salary inclusive of allowances in the nature of pay which are fixed periodic pensionable allowances.

• Salaries will not fall below €65,000 as a result of the application of these reductions.

• Where a person is employed on less than full hours and their whole-time equivalent salary is greater than €65,000, then the reductions outlined in the above table will be applied to their salary on a pro-rata basis.

We are also directed by the Department of Education and Skills to implement further general measures of the HRA as follows:

Pay Measures for Academic Staff in grades covered by the Agreement:

In addition to the higher remuneration measures described above, the following measure should be applied in the case of Academic Staff:

• The examination marking fee payable for the marking of exams which take place on or after 1 July 2013 is reduced by 25%.

Working Hours for Academic Staff in grades covered by the Agreement:

Academic staff will work an additional 78 hours per annum. This additional time will be deployed through Workload Allocation Models to maximise savings and productivity.

Measures for Non-Academic Staff in grades covered by the Agreement:

In addition to the higher remuneration measures described above, the following measures should be applied in the case of all Non-Academic Staff:

Additional Working Hours:

• Staff with a working week of 35 hours or less (net of rest breaks) will increase to a minimum of 37 hours a week and staff who currently work more than 35 but less than 39 hours a week (net of rest breaks) will increase to a 39 hour week.
• Working hours of those staff with a net working week of 39 hours or greater will remain the same, but an hour of overtime worked each week by these staff will be unpaid until 31 March 2014.
• As per the Agreement, the implementation of the additional hours will be phased as follows:
• The first 2 hours and 15 minutes was implemented as of 14th October 2013
• The remaining 1 hour will be implemented from 1 July 2015

Accordingly, the revised hours are as follows

Increments – All Staff:

• Staff in grades where the salary scale starts above €100,000 per annum are subject to a three year increment freeze effective from 1 July 2013.
• For all other staff, the next increment due on or after 1 July 2013 can be paid as normal. Further information regarding the implementation of the increment pauses will be communicated as we receive instructions from the HEA.

Overtime:

• For those on salaries up to €35,000, overtime will be paid at time and a half at the first point of the appropriate scale. Where this would result in overtime being paid at less than time at any point on the scale, overtime will instead be paid at the rate of time and a quarter at the individual’s scale point.
• For those on salaries of €35,000 or greater, overtime will be paid at the rate of time and a quarter at the individual’s scale point.