To ask the Minister of Health whether his Department will expedite any consideration of distributing the lump sum to healthcare workers in instalments, to ensure those entitled to Universal Credit are not disqualified from receiving it.

My Department asked Regional Payroll within the Business Services Organisation (BSO) to work with Trust HR colleagues to formulate an implementation plan for all outstanding pay awards. Following their discussions over what was feasible, the resultant solution of splitting consolidated and non-consolidated payments was acknowledged as the best way of ensuring all staff would at least receive their substantive pay award in the June pay run.

Non-consolidated payments will follow in August. The alternative to this would have been to delay implementation of all elements of the awards, for all staff, until September.