Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 July 2025
238. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will allow for special school staff such as caretakers, cleaners and bus escorts to be paid under the online claims system, in order to reduce the administrative burden on schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36888/25]
View answerThe Department recognises the vitally important role of Caretakers, Cleaners and Bus Escorts within school communities, as a key link between students, school leaders and other staff, ensuring that both the caretaking and cleaning needs of the school are met, and that children with additional needs are escorted safely on buses. Without them, our schools would be unsustainable.
The majority of primary and voluntary secondary schools receive assistance to provide for caretaking, cleaning services and bus escort needs under relevant grant schemes. Where a school employs a staff member to support those functions those staff are not public servants but employees of individual schools and responsibility for terms of employment rests with the school.
Since September 2023 my department has been providing a payroll service for former grant funded school secretaries. This happened on foot of an Agreement reached in 2022, under the auspices of the WRC, that secretaries would move to a centralised pay roll managed by the Department and receive new terms and conditions of employment. The Department is committed to ensuring that school caretakers will be afforded the opportunity to avail of a similar package to that offered to school secretaries in the near future. There are currently no plans to offer a similar agreement to cleaners and bus escorts.
Boards of Management/ETBs are responsible for the employment of School Transport Escorts. Grant funding issues yearly in advance to schools requiring this support, based on a reconciliation process that is carried out during the summer months, and on the rate of pay which is determined by the department. Once sanction has been sought in advance, additional funding can be provided for the employment of new escorts during the year, or where existing escorts are working longer hours due to route extensions.
An administration charge is also payable to each school, calculated based on 5% of the hours worked by the escorts employed by the school. This charge is intended to assist schools in defraying the cost of administering the employment of escorts in their school. It is a matter for the Board of Management/ETB to decide how this is utilised. A new Information Note on School Transport Escorts has recently been circulated to schools and is also available on the School Transport website on: www.gov.ie/schooltransport
The On-Line Claims System (OLCS) facilitates recording of staff absences (illness, parental leave, force majeure, etc.), claims for substitute cover, submission of claims to payroll for processing, and ensuring claims comply with Department circulars and entitlements, for staff who are on a payroll administered by the department. The OLCS feeds into the Department’s payroll systems and is not a stand-alone service. As Caretakers, Cleaners and Bus Escorts are grant funded and are paid directly by the Board of Management of the school with which they work, or by an ETB, the relevant school/ETB retains statutory responsibility for recording payment of wages and associated employee information such as absences.
