Africa-Press – Seychelles. Saler to increase from April 2023
• Lower salary from R5,485 to R7,343
From April 1, 2023, public service workers will see an average 10% increase in their salary and the lowest salary in the government will go from R5,485 to R7,343.
This is part of the salary adjustments that the Minister for Finance, National Planning and Commerce, Mr. Naadir Hassan, announced in his budget address for 2023 that was presented to the National Assembly yesterday morning.
He said that in the 2023 budget, the government is proposing R3.44 billion for remuneration and salaries in public services. This represents 11.3 percent of our gross domestic product, compared to 3.01 billion in 2022.
“Our objective remains to maintain the remuneration budget and salary in the medium term at 11 percent of gross domestic product. For the year 2023, our projection of remuneration and salary will increase by R428.3 million, or 14 percent compared to the 2022 budget,” he explained.
As announced in the 2022 budget speech, Minister Hassan said the government was working on a new salary structure in public services. In the first phase of the exercise, the new salary structure consolidated the following benefits in the basic salary;
5 percent ‘supplementation allowance’ that was introduced in 2019
‘Marketable skills allowance’
‘Graduate allowance’ etc
Performance allowance
‘Inducement’ and ‘long-service allowance’ are not included in this consolidation.
For ‘inducement allowance’, this is necessary to take into account the factors that are not covered under the job evaluation system, for example the lack of skills in the job market that makes a qualification more ‘marketable’ compared to another.
Minister Hassan said that the government will also conduct a research on the employment market based on the existing positions in the government compared to the private sector.
For the ‘long-service allowance’, they have taken into account its complexity and the impact it can have on the salary structure. The government has identified that if it consolidates the ‘long-service allowance’ in this new salary grid, there may be scenarios where a worker in a lower position, his salary may be higher than that of a worker in a higher position. So this can lead to more frustration among the workers.
He says in the second element of this exercise, it is a salary increase in public services.
“After we have consolidated these ‘allowances’ together, public sector workers will also get an average increase of 10 percent. In our analysis, the lowest increase is R1,000. With this consolidation and 10 percent increase, the lowest salary in the government will go from R5,485 to R7,343.
To ensure clarity, Minister Hassan gave two examples of how the allowance consolidation and the 10 percent salary increase will work.
“A driver who is currently receiving a basic salary of R6,325 with a 5 percent ‘supplementation allowance’ of R316.25, which makes a total of R6,641.25 when you consolidate his salary, and with this increase, his new basic salary will reach R7 ,641.25.
A recent graduate will receive a basic salary of R9,887 with a 5 percent ‘supplementation allowance’ of R494.25, a ‘marketable skills allowance’ of R1,400, a ‘graduate allowance’ of R5,000, which makes a total of R16 ,781.35, when you consolidate his salary with this increase, his new basic salary will be R18,662.43,” Minister Hassan explained.
Minister Hassan pointed out that the third element of this work is that the government places each individual with his new salary on the new salary grid which has only 12 ‘bands’ and which has 15 ‘steps’ for each ‘band’. He says that the new salary grid has been finalized and will be explained to the workers in the coming days.
“Just to make it clear, under this salary review, firstly we have consolidated 4 allowances in the basic salary, and secondly, we have given a salary increase of 10 percent on the consolidated salary. I hope this is clear,” Minister Hassan said.
Minister Hassan continued in ten years that in this review, the government has also decided to withdraw the salary of constitutional appointments and those for public service. Public service salaries will be framed in a policy that the Public Service Bureau will administer.
Regarding the salary of the Constitutional Representatives, Minister Hassan said the government will appoint an independent committee to review their salaries taking into account all the benefits that the Constitutional Representatives are getting today. This exercise will be done in an independent, transparent and objective way.
“This increase in public service salaries will take effect on April 1, 2023 and will cost R171.9 million in 2023, which represents 0.6 percent of gross domestic product.
In 2023, the Public Service Bureau together with the human resources officers in the government will review the work scheme in the public service.
“We recognize that this salary review only targets public sector workers. For private sector workers, I would like to make a call to your employees so that they can also evaluate and analyze if they can give an increase to their workers. Since 2021, when the country reopens, the Seychelles economy has been revived and economic activity is continuously expanding, so I hope that they will reward their workers for the good economic performance that we are going through,” Minister Hassan said.
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