Govt. suspends payment of special allowance to executive grade officers

• Rs. 15,000 monthly allowance was to be paid from 1 Jan.
• Public Administration Ministry says suspension in keeping with Cabinet decision

By Chandani Kirinde

The Government has decided to suspend the payment of the Rs. 15,000 special monthly allowance to officers holding posts in the executive grade of the public service, which was to come into effect from 1 January this year.

The Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government issued a circular to secretaries to ministries, chief secretaries of provinces and heads of department informing them that the payment of the special allowance was being temporarily suspended in keeping with a Cabinet decision made on 2 January.

The allowance was part of an enhanced salary package that came into effect for all public sector workers from this month in keeping with a decision taken by the previous Government but the Cabinet decided to suspend the payment of the special allowance even though salary hikes for others in the sector would be paid as announced last October. 

The allowance was to be paid from January this year irrespective of the period the officers served in the category of executive services instead of the allowance paid before, which was based on the period of service.

However, the Government will go ahead with implementing the salary structure put in place by the previous Government for all public servants, which will see an increase in their salaries by a minimum amount of Rs. 3,000 and a maximum of Rs. 24,000 per month effective from January 2020.

This salary increment will amount to a 107% increase by 2020 compared to the basic salaries that were in place in 2015.

The enhanced salary structure  was announced last September by the then Government and is based on the recommendation of the Special Commission tasked with reviewing salaries of the public sector appointed by former President Maithripala Sirisena.

This salary increment is intended to remove salary anomalies that existed in different sectors of the public service, including the railway and postal services which had engaged in trade union action for many months to have the anomalies removed.