Fórsa, Ireland’s largest public service trade union, has contacted the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform seeking urgent action to ensure that all staff employed in schools are provided with fair and equal access to the Single Public Service Pension scheme.
Fórsa continues to campaign for pay and pension justice for school secretaries and caretakers, who do not have access to the scheme.
In a letter to the department issued today (Wednesday), the union’s head of Education Andy Pike acknowledged the department’s responsibility for public service pensions policy, including decisions on granting access to the scheme for specific groups or categories of workers within the wider public service.
Mr Pike added: “School secretaries and caretakers employed by a school board of management are currently not provided with access to the pension scheme. This is in contrast to the experience of teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs) within the same employment, who enjoy the benefits of public service status.
“The employment relationship of a school secretary with their board of management is identical to that of a teacher or SNA, insofar as such staff are paid directly by the Department of Education, while the Minister for Education is responsible for determining conditions of employment and all staff are employed by the school’s board of management,” he said.
On that basis, Mr Pike said the union is seeking urgent action be taken to resolve this long-standing issue, and to ensure that all staff employed in schools are provided with fair and equal access to the existing public service scheme.
The union launched its campaign to secure pension access for school secretaries and caretakers at an event in November.
The union successfully campaigned for a new pay agreement (2021) for school secretaries, who are now paid directly by the Department of Education. For many decades, prior to the agreement, school secretaries were individually employed by school boards of management, on varied and sometimes very precarious conditions.
While Fórsa’s school secretaries branch – which has around 2,000 secretaries in membership – fought and won the right to be included on the Department of Education payroll, they continue to be denied access to the public service pension scheme.
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