SRC’s New Payment Plans For Public Servants-Teachers Win
All civil servants are set for a salary increase that could see the highest paid take home with Sh846,720 in a new structure proposed by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
Should it be implemented as proposed, the pay review will push the public sector wage bill to a historic high of Sh3.8 billion monthly.
The State Department for Public Service is expected to provide feedback on the proposed remuneration structure which is part of the third public service remuneration and benefits review cycle which started in 2021 and will end in 2025.
Documents indicate that the wage bill will double from the current 1.96 billion to Sh3.84 billion by the time the cycle ends in two years. According to SRC, the new structure will ensure equity and fairness by streamlining allowances and gross pay for various job groups.
Under the new framework, the minimum basic salary for civil servants in the lowest cadre — cleaners, messengers, clerical officers and other subordinate staff in Job Group C (CSG 17) — will be Sh22,447. The highest one can earn in this group will be Sh25,317. Salaries will differ from county to county, with civil servants in Nairobi set to get the highest.
In the highest cadre, Job Group U (CSG3), which includes Principal Secretaries, the Government Spokesman, Director-Generals, Chiefs of Staff and Principal Assistant Secretaries, the minimum basic salary will be raised from the current Sh563,365. The ceiling for this group will be Sh846,720 in Cluster One.
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Salaries for civil servants in middle grade E4 and under Job Group U will also be raised from Sh292,765 to a maximum of Sh563,365. Those in Job Group T — which comprises Deputy Secretaries, Administrative Secretaries and Regional Commissioners among others — the pay will rise from Sh422,050 to Sh584,740 per month for Cluster 1 while their colleagues in Cluster 2 will be getting Sh574,740, up from Sh412,050. For Cluster 3, the earnings will be increased to Sh564,740, up from the current 402,050.
For Job Group S which comprises Directors and County Commissioners, among others, the salaries will shoot from Sh220,499 to Sh287,476 (Nairobi) while cluster 2 and 3 will be from Sh216,499 to Sh283,476 and Sh212,499 to Sh279,476, respectively.
In Job Group R which comprises Senior Deputy Directors and Deputy Directors, the SRC recommends those in Nairobi to get Sh 243,450 up from the current Sh 170,911. For clusters 2 and 3, the pay will rise from Sh 155,911 to Sh 228,450 and Sh 145,911 to Sh 218,450.
In the middle to lower cadres, the pay for those in Job Group K which comprises administrative, assistants, accountants, will jump from Sh62,141 to Sh77,797 in Nairobi, Sh58,441 to Sh74,097 in cluster 2 and Sh 55,241 to Sh 70,897 for cluster 3.
In Job Group J, they will earn Sh59,442 from the current Sh47,572 (Nairobi), Sh 56,942 up from Sh45,072 currently for those in cluster 2 and a raise from Sh43,372 to Sh55,242 for cluster 3.
Last week, President William Ruto had advised against any pay increments for the highly-paid senior State officials, after the People Daily had reported that the SRC had published new proposals for public participation.
In a rejoinder, however, SRC, which is independent of the Executive under the Constitution, said it would continue seeking public comments on the proposed review until July 13 before gazetting the new salary structure for State officers later this month.
The SRC, however, said individual State officers can reject the salary increases out of choice.
“We must separate the role from the specific State officer,” said SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich. “We set pay for a job and not an individual and, therefore, a person can choose not to take the pay rise.”
If the commission gets its way, those in Job Group H —drivers, clerical officers and others — will benefit from an increase from Sh38,409 to Sh48,636 in Nairobi, which is Cluster 1. The amounts will vary from Sh36,209 to Sh46,436 in cluster 2 and Sh35,709 to Sh45,936 in cluster 3.
All the proposals now await a nod from stakeholders after which they will be implemented, most likely this month. To make this happen, the National Treasury has allocated Sh45.2 billion, to be split equally across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, to fund the salary increases.
Teachers will go home with the bulk of the allocation at Sh17.8 billion, ahead of civil servant counterparts in national and county governments at Sh14 billion and other public officers at Sh12.21 billion.
The Automatic Annual Increment (AAI) stands at an average of three per cent. Institutions whose salary structures will not have been reviewed under this cycle will retain their current structures, with AAI up to the maximum salary points.
Pay review proposals are guided by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and are expected to cushion workers for Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) as long as the government can afford to pay the revised rates sustainably.
Between 2021 and 2023, the government froze increases in basic salary structures, allowances and benefits paid in the public sector workers due to the ravages of Covid-19 pandemic.
“SRC, in consultation with the National Treasury, advised on no review of the basic salary structures, allowances and benefits paid in the public sector in the financial year 2021/2022 and 2022/2023,” SRC says.
With the pandemic under control, SRC is now proposing that salaries be reviewed across board. Consequently, it has undertaken a job evaluation review under the current remuneration and benefits review cycle to determine the relative worth of jobs and to also harmonise job grades within and across sectors.
“This includes a review of salary structures to align gross salaries against market positioning and a study on allowances and benefits payable in the public sector,” reads the proposal.
Meanwhile, the salary structure for unionisable staff will be negotiated through Collective Bargaining Negotiations (CBN) in line with existing guidelines.
The framework, SRC says, has been embedded in the Performance Contracting Guidelines for the current financial year, which started last weekend.
SRC is aiming for progressive harmonisation and equity in civil service pay. In phase three of the recommendations, it will ensure progressive harmonisation in house allowance rates across geographical regions. It will also reduce the number of clusters from four to three, so that those currently in Cluster 4 effectively join Cluster 3.
In phase four, SRC proposes to review the rates of house allowance for the lower job grades (CSG 12 and below) to progressively harmonise them for comparable jobs with in the public service.
Implementation of the proposed review has been phased to ensure the pay reviews are sustainable and the government can comfortably pay the enhanced rates until 2025 when another review will be due.
