Wage overhaul to start with central gov’t workers
Published:Wednesday | March 2, 2022 | 12:10 AM
The Holness administration will first focus on the more than 100,000 workers in central government as it rolls out the compensation restructuring exercise this year before turning its attention to employees of the 100-plus public bodies.
Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke indicated that in aligning the salaries of public-sector workers, his ministry would give priority to employees in central government.
“The alignment that will take place in this fiscal year will be focused on central government first, and the expectation is that the principles behind the review will incorporate public bodies and that they will, ultimately, be part of the review exercise,” Clarke told members of Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee on Tuesday.
The finance minister also explained that in relation to non-tax allowances, no public-sector employee would be worse off as a result of the compensation restructuring.
Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson asked Clarke to divulge the level of increase for senior technocrats as well as a police constable.
Clarke held the figure close to his chest, pointing out that he would not disclose the level of increase before he had dialogue with the various public-sector groups.
However, he indicated that the Government was not able to retain talent and experience in the public sector, owing to what he described as a “great deal of compression at the middle to the top end of the public sector.
“We expect the stretching at that level of the public sector to reflect the fact that we want to be able to attract and retain,” said Clarke.