Fórsa has secured an agreement which will see the additional leave for clerical officers (COs) and executive officers (EOs) provided for under the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA), rolled out to analogous grades, service officers and cleaners.

Under the PSSA, COs and EOs were granted an extra days annual leave after 12 years’ service, with a further day due after 14 years. Up until recently however, staff serving as law clerks, services officers and architectural assistants, grades equivalent to COs and EOs, were not permitted same.

Fórsa general secretary Tom Geraghty explained: “This new entitlement stems from a claim submitted by the former PSEU in respect of EOs. Arbitration found merit in the claim but left it up to the pay talks to implement, during which it was extended to COs.”

Earlier this year Fórsa official Andy Pike lodged a claim to extend this agreement to comparable grades in the civil service. Following consideration of the claim, and recognising that in the past, any changes in annual leave allowances were mirrored across equivalent grades, the claim was recently agreed at general council.

The additional leave for CO and EO analogous grades, service officers and cleaners will come into effect from the start of the 2018 leave year.