Health Service - Shorter Working Year Scheme questions

Chris_5339762

Hi all,

 

Working in the health service and am wanting to get involved in the shorter working year scheme for next year. Our deadline is the end of October for submission not September as it is in the civil service. Management are aware that I’m interested and directed me towards HR/Salaries to get answers to a few queries. Despite trying to get in contact with five different people, not one of them has replied a month later despite pressure from my end.

Just wondering if any of you guys with experience could answer these questions. I’m thinking of taking six weeks off, three in May/June and three in August

 

-          Pro-rata would be better, but health staff do not have access to the civil service “What if I” calculator. Is there an equivalent one for health staff that could tell me by how much my take-home pay would decrease?

-          What happens to PRSI contributions? Do I need to make these through Revenue separately?

-          For annual leave: Say 30 days worth over a 52.25 week year – does this just reduce pro rata to (52.25 – 6) weeks?

-          What about pension contributions? Do I need to arrange these also?

-          What about VHI contributions? I make these through my payslip as it stands – would I need to do this separately or would some magic happen to pay multiple contributions through one payslip?

 

A number of questions but I have just been hit with a wall of silence so I’m getting a bit panicky as I only have two weeks to sort this out.

Thanks a mil.

DEW138

Hi Chris,

its weird that you haven't received any reply from payroll for SWY scheme.. I work in HSE payroll, so will try to answer these:

-Pro-rata would be better, but health staff do not have access to the civil service “What if I” calculator. Is there an equivalent one for health staff that could tell me by how much my take-home pay would decrease?

I have an excel simple net pay calculator 2024, not sure if this is available outside payroll. Payroll should have this and should calculate what if for employees.

-What happens to PRSI contributions? Do I need to make these through Revenue separately?

as you are taking the leave, you are not making any PRSI contributions, our payroll system will give you J class PRSI. The circular says below: contact DEASP to clarify.

'Staff should note that, under PRSI rules, a person availing of special leave is not earning during the period of leave and is not, therefore, making PRSI contributions1. Staff availing of special leave should contact the Department of Social Protection to clarify their individual position. It is the responsibility of the person availing of the scheme to make arrangements to ensure that any voluntary contributions (e.g. health insurance, savings plans, etc.) normally deducted from salary continue to be paid'

-What about pension contributions? Do I need to arrange these also?

-What about VHI contributions? I make these through my pay slip as it stands – would I need to do this separately or would some magic happen to pay multiple contributions through one pay slip?

as above, VHI deduction that is normally deducted through payroll needs to be paid separately.

- For annual leave: Say 30 days worth over a 52.25 week year – does this just reduce pro rata to (52.25 – 6) weeks?

Annual leave and public holidays - see copy/paste from the circular:

Subject to the provisions of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 (“the Act”), the annual leave allocation of a participant may be reduced to take account of the period of special unpaid leave.

Subject to the provisions of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 (“the Act”), the annual leave allocation of a participant may be reduced to take account of the period of special unpaid leave. Annual Leave - Full Time Staff: Persons serving in a full time capacity who avail of special leave will, in the absence of any other additional unpaid leave, be entitled to a minimum of 20 days annual leave. Staff with an annual leave allowance in excess of 20 days will have their allowance reduced on a pro rata basis. However it must be noted that if no other unpaid time off is taken, the officer will still receive 4 working weeks (20 days) as a statutory entitlement.

Hope this helps

Chris_5339762

Thanks for that. Got a bit more information yesterday from someone who availed of this last year, and a few contacts to hassle. Management may well deny it anyway, we'll see.

Nah, your net pay calculator isn't available to us anyway, unfortunately.

Helen47

Hi Chris,

I’m wondering how this went for you, because I work for a Section 38 and I applied for this leave which was signed off on by my line manager and the regional manager, but was thrown a curveball as HR then told me that my organisation doesn’t offer this leave 🤯 So I queried it and have been in touch with my Union. I got word from them that an ‘unofficial’ direction has been circulated within HSE saying that the SWY scheme is not to be granted for 2024…. I’d really appreciate it if you could let me know how you got on…

Chris_5339762

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121392110#Comment_121392110

Sorry for the long delay as I wanted to get into January to see what happened. I got no offical confirmation, but it is all set up on SAP and I have my two periods of time off officially booked for this year. So it is running for leave in 2024.

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