12 January 2011
Retired public servants in Northern Ireland are today lobbying politicians in a dispute over backdated equal pay.
In a 2009 settlement between the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance union and the Department of Finance and Personnel, it was agreed that the work of junior administrative staff was of equal value to that of higher-paid technical staff.
As a result, serving administrative staff received enhanced pay backdated to February 1, 2003. However, civil servants who retired between that date and August 1, 2006 were not given any compensation unless they had lodged a claim for equal pay within six months of retiring.
In response, the Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance, Nipsa’s retired members’ section and the campaigning group Age Sector Platform will today tell members of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s finance and personnel committee that retirees should also be compensated.
Ivan Baxter, Northern Ireland branch secretary of the CSPA, said: ‘As it stands, this settlement is unfair, unreasonable and morally indefensible.
‘We are fighting for retired staff to be properly compensated by the government.’
The alliance has estimated that around 460 people are owed the backdated pay. It points out that the cost of any subsequent compensation will be modest in comparison to the costs of the total package.
According to the alliance, the DFP has defended its decision on the grounds that the settlement resulted from an equal pay dispute and it has no legal obligation to compensate workers who retired before the terms of the settlement had been agreed.
