Improved civil service pay scheme

PUTRAJAYA: The controversial and much maligned Public Service New Remuneration Scheme (SBPA) has been abolished by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday and the government has reverted to an improved and upgraded version of the Malaysian Remuneration Scheme (SSM).

Najib told a crowd of nearly 15,000 at a special gathering for the civil service, that the move came about after studying proposals made by Cuepacs who was unhappy with the SBPA system announced on Jan 1.

“After reviewing Cuepacs' proposals and the financial implications, the government decided to firstly: abolish SBPA which we introduced on Jan 1, 2012 and the government’s remuneration system will be reverted to an improved and upgraded SSM,” said Najib.

Under the new and improved SSM, Najib announced that the streamlining of the salary scale will be based on the Matrix Salary Schedule under the SSM.

The revised salary scale is expected to benefit 1.4 million civil servants.

Amongst the improvements made on the SSM system is a 13 per cent salary adjustment for the Management and Professional Group as well as the Implementation Group from Grade 1 to Grade 54.

Civil servants in the Primary Grade and Special Grades C, B and A will enjoy and increment of nine per cent.

Officers under Staff III (Turus III) and Staff II (Turus II) can expect and increment of eight per cent and Staff I (Turus I) and the secretarygeneral will enjoy an increase of seven per cent.

The reversion to SSM was one amongst many changes announced by Najib, including the formation of a special commission which will consist of all stakeholders to study the Malaysian civil service.

“This special commission’s role will study our Public Service remuneration system in a comprehensive and holistic manner. Its role is also to determine the future role of our civil service according to the country’s needs.

“Any proposals or suggestions made by this special commission will be considered according to the government’s financial means,” said Najib.

The yearly salary increment structure will be revised from the Matrix Salary Schedule to the Minimum-Maximum Salary Schedule with an annual increment between RM80 and RM320 for Grades 1 to 54, according to the respective grades.

Yearly increment for JUSA level and above is as status quo.

“The government has also agreed to increase the Cost of Living Allowance (Cola) for Areas B and C. Area B will enjoy an increase from RM200 to RM250 and Area C will experience an increase from RM100 to RM150.

“We have also agreed to maintain the Critical Service Incentive Pay, Federal Incentive Pay, Rural Incentive Pay and the Education Subject Incentive Pay according to the regulations under the SSM,” said Najib.

Prior to Najib’s announcement, Cuepacs listed seven issues where it requested the government conduct a review on: imbalanced salary scheme; not recognising seniority; maximum salary; stagnant grades; seven to 13 per cent increment; change of designations and the huge difference in salary between Top Level Management Group and the Implementation Group.

This led to the formation of a task force headed by the former director of the Public Service Department Tan Sri Ismail Adam to make new recommendations to the government. With the advent of the new special commission, the task force has also been made redundant.

The last time the government reviewed the civil service’s salary scheme was in 2007 when civil servants enjoyed an increment between 7.5 per cent to 35 per cent.