€500k floated as possible ‘high earner’ threshold in HSE

The possibility of setting a threshold of €500,000 by which a HSE employee is defined as a ‘high earner’ was discussed at a recent Executive meeting.

As previously reported in the Medical Independent (MI), a proposal to increase the threshold is under “active consideration”.

The issue was raised at the September meeting of the HSE audit and risk committee during a discussion about an action plan regarding ‘high earners’. The committee welcomed the “significant work” done on the action plan.

According to minutes, there was “a reasonable case” for the high earner threshold to be increased from €300,000 to €500,000 “due to inflationary and other factors”.

The HSE previously told this newspaper the new consultant contract “may have an inflationary impact” on the level of earnings above €300,000.

A HSE spokesperson told MI that a “number of alternatives” for the high earner threshold were mentioned in discussions, including a figure of €500,000, “but no decision was taken in that regard.”

In October, the HSE CEO Mr Bernard Gloster told the Oireachtas public accounts committee the threshold was “likely to require adjustment”.

This was because “the new consultant contract will mean that a significant number of employees will be above that figure when all dimensions of the contract are factored in”.