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Hospital chef pay in Ireland

These scales do something no other grade on this site does. They rise properly for two or three years, and then almost stop, with steps worth less than a hundred and sixty euro a year.

The short answer

A newly qualified hospital chef starts on €42,486 a year. After 11 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €48,853. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€42,486
about €2,932 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€48,853
about €3,231 a month take-home

Figures from Department of Health Circular 2/2026, effective 1 June 2026. Take-home is for a single person with standard credits, after income tax, USC, PRSI and ASC.

What point of the scale am I on?

This is where most salary pages get it wrong. Your point is not always the same as your years of service, because one of the two scales carries incremental skips. Pick your situation:

You are on point 1
€42,486

The full pay scale, every point

Chef II, with qualification

Eleven points. The first three years carry the real money, then the steps drop to under €300 a year.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€42,486€35,184€2,932
2€43,654€36,003€3,000
3€46,518€37,589€3,132
4€46,805€37,734€3,145
5€47,093€37,881€3,157
6€47,380€38,026€3,169
7€47,669€38,173€3,181
8€47,957€38,320€3,193
9€48,246€38,466€3,206
10€48,534€38,613€3,218
11€48,853€38,775€3,231

Take-home assumes a single person with the personal and employee tax credits, no other income, and ASC at Single Public Service Pension Scheme rates. Your main superannuation contribution is deducted separately and depends on your scheme.

Chef II, without qualification

The same first six points as the qualified scale, and then it stops. The qualification is worth €1,473 at the ceiling, and five more years of increments.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€42,486€35,184€2,932
2€43,654€36,003€3,000
3€46,518€37,589€3,132
4€46,805€37,734€3,145
5€47,093€37,881€3,157
6€47,380€38,026€3,169

The shape of these scales is unusual and worth understanding before you read the numbers. Most public service scales rise by a roughly even amount every year. The catering scales front load: the first two or three steps are worth thousands, and then the increments collapse to a few hundred, and in places to under €160 a year. On the Executive Chef scale the entire climb across twelve points is €3,005, which is less than a single step on many other grades. In practice the money is made by moving up a grade, not by staying put.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the chef ii scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 11 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€42,486
Year 2Point 2€43,654
Year 3Point 3€46,518
Year 4Point 4€46,805
Year 5Point 5€47,093
Year 6Point 6€47,380
Year 7Point 7€47,669
Year 8Point 8€47,957
Year 9Point 9€48,246
Year 10Point 10€48,534
Year 11Point 11€48,853

Progression is automatic on your incremental date as long as your service is satisfactory. Time spent on a career break or otherwise out of service pushes your incremental date back.

What comes off your salary

Four deductions apply before your pay reaches your account, and one of them is specific to the public service.

Income tax, USC and PRSI

The same as any employee. Income tax at 20% up to €44,000 for a single person and 40% above, USC in bands from 0.5% to 8%, and PRSI at 4.2%.

ASC, the public service extra

The Additional Superannuation Contribution. Nothing on the first €34,500, then 3.33% to €60,000 and 3.5% above for Single Scheme members. Pre-2013 scheme members pay 10% and 10.5% on the same bands. It reduces your income tax but not your USC or PRSI.

One thing to be aware of: the take-home figures on this page include ASC but not your main superannuation contribution, which is charged separately and depends on which pension scheme you joined. Your actual net pay will be somewhat lower. We show ASC because its rates are published and identical for everyone, while the main contribution varies.

Questions people ask most

How much does a chef earn in the HSE?
It depends on the grade. A qualified Chef II runs from €42,486 to €48,853, Chef I from €45,150 to €51,998, Senior Chef from €51,454 to €54,150, and an Executive Chef from €54,494 to €57,499. These are the rates effective 1 June 2026.
Why do the increments get so small?
That is how the scales are published, and it is the most striking thing about them. On the Executive Chef scale the steps fall to €158 and then €151 a year in the middle of the scale. Across all twelve points the total climb is €3,005. On most public service grades a single annual increment is worth more than that.
What is the qualification worth for a Chef II?
The qualified and unqualified scales share their first six points exactly. After that the unqualified scale stops at €47,380 while the qualified one continues for five more points to €48,853. So the qualification is worth €1,473 at the ceiling, plus five extra years of increments.
What is the highest a hospital chef can earn?
€57,499, at the top of the Executive Chef scale. There is no long service increment on any of the catering grades, so that figure is the ceiling.
How long does it take to reach the top of the Chef I scale?
About thirteen years, since there are fourteen points. But the pay stops moving in any real sense much earlier: points 2 and 3 are worth €1,340 and €2,987, and every one of the ten points after that is worth under €500.
Is promotion worth more than staying on the scale?
On these grades, yes, and by a wide margin. Moving from the top of Chef I at €51,998 to the first point of Executive Chef at €54,494 is worth €2,496 immediately, which is more than the entire remaining climb on most of these scales.
Do these rates apply outside hospitals?
These are the HSE scales, set by circular and identical across the health service. Catering pay in hotels, restaurants and private contract catering is a different matter entirely and is not published in any source we can cite.
When do these rates change next?
These are effective 1 June 2026 under the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which is in its final year. The next change depends on the agreement that succeeds it, and we update this page when revised scales are published.

Where these figures come from

Every euro figure on this page is taken from the official circulars below, not from salary surveys or crowd-sourced averages. Last checked 2026-08-18.

More public sector pay:

All public sector pay scales →