Derry trade unionists say all health and social care workers should get £500 'thank you' payment

Trade unionists in Derry have pressed the Department of Health to extend its £500 ‘thank you’ payment to all frontline health and social care workers.

Health workers in Northern Ireland are to receive a ‘special recognition payment for their working during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Health Minister Robin Swann announced the payment of £500 at a press conference last week.

He said it will be paid to all health and social care workers including doctors, nurses, care home workers, domiciliary care workers, administrative staff and estates teams.

However, it will be subject to approval from the Department of Finance.

Minister Swann said: "There are no words to properly convey what they have done for us - we will never be able to repay that debt."

However, Derry Trades Union Council Chair Niall McCarroll has said he understands that a meeting was held at Stormont which determined that this £500 payment would not be awarded to all health and social care workers.

He says many other frontline workers have been excluded from this thank you payment which has left them feeling ‘disillusioned and undervalued’.

“When we collectively braced ourselves for the arrival of Covid-19 - this group of now it seems forgotten workers left their homes, entered the unknown and put their lives at risk, doing so, for all of us.

“The Stormont Executive should explain how they came to the decision on which workers they are indebted to and which they are not, are they by their actions saying that workers in local addiction support services such as, The House in the Wells, Damien House and The Foyle Haven are not worthy enough or indeed that classroom assistants working in St Cecilia’s College and Lisneal College do not meet the criteria for appreciation.”

He added: “Surely, a community worker delivering food parcels to an at risk member of the community, a classroom assistant taking responsibility for the children of keyworkers or a supported living worker meeting the needs of a homeless person are as deserving of a thank you from government as any other worker, who through their actions, protected others and ensured that the fight against COVID-19 was effective and could be sustained.

“Unfortunately, it seems no such thank you will be afforded to essential frontline workers in the Community and Voluntary or Education sectors.

“These workers should also be considered for any one off thank you payment from the Stormont Executive.”

Those concerns were put to the Department of Health (DoH) which said details are being ‘finalised’.

A spokesperson for the DoH said: “Officials are finalising the details of the £500 one off payment to staff, which we will publish on the Department's website as soon as possible.”

The Department of Communities which is jointly responsible for funding supported living schemes including House in the Wells and the only funder in other schemes such as Belmont Cottages which said the payment was a matter for the DoH.