An agreement was reached in the Workplace Relations Commissions on the 10th of March 2025, between ICTU unions and relevant Government Departments, to fund Health and Social Care and Homeless sector employers for a 9.25% pay increase to their workers, equivalent to the current Public Sector Agreement 2024 – 2026.
The increases are backdated to October 2024 with implementation over a two-year period running to October 2026, at which point a successor to the Public Service Agreement is anticipated.
The agreement reached includes the establishment of a joint monitoring group with the funding agencies, employer representatives and staff union representatives to ensure practical issues and disputes can be resolved in a timely and effective manner.
As of the 14th January 2026:
o 564 organisations are fully complete and have been recommended for payment– the 2025 WRC 2 funding to these organisations represents €33m of the total €36m to be paid.
o 72 organisations have engaged and will be processed when they provide needed information.
o 66 organisations contacted have yet to engage.
o 19 organisations are not due WRC funding in 2025 as S39 operations have ceased/transferred.
Three of the five staged 2025 WRC increases are due with the fourth uplift is scheduled for 1st April 2026.
Agencies, organisations and charities that are covered by the new auto-enrolment scheme are generally funded under Section 39 of the Health Act 2004. These organisations receive a portion of their funding from the HSE to deliver agreed services. It is my understanding that the HSE are gathering data from the funding it provides to Section 39 services.
Funding is provided to organisations by the HSE through the grant process. Additional funding provided for 2026 is intended to address overall cost pressures for HSE funded services within these organisations.
Staff working in these independently operated organisations have been employed using a multiplicity of terms and conditions and various public funding sources. A shared understanding of pay and funding across the sector is essential and an independent body will examine pay and funding across the sector. This will enable measures targeted at low pay in the sector can be considered in future agreements.
As these organisations are independent entities, and their employees are not public servants and as such employment contracts and obligations (e.g. auto-enrolment, pay, pensions) are matters between the employer and their employees once in line with employment legislation.
