Details of how $9m will be invested in attracting, retaining and rewarding public sector workers who have the skills needed by the Turks and Caicos Islands Government were revealed today, Wednesday, 11 March 2015.
TCI Premier, Dr. Rufus Ewing, and Head of the Public Service, Deputy Governor Anya Williams, held a joint news conference to explain the implementation, and how it will be focused on workers in the fields of education, health and the nation’s security from 1 April 2015. It applies across the civil service and the Royal Turks and Caicos Police Force.
“This is the next necessary step in the process of properly rewarding and remunerating public servants,” said Premier Ewing. “After the restoration of the 10% pay cut in 2012, the implementation of this pay and grading review is the next logical step in a process of properly rewarding our front line staff. This is yet another key manifesto commitment being delivered by my Government.
“This is not an across the board pay increase – rather, it is focused on those front line, technical and professional roles that have a combination of responsibility and qualifications and competences.
This move will allow the TCI public service to become an even more attractive career option and will help to put the TCI on par with other regions,” added Anya Williams.
“We have known for some time that our public sector pay lagged behind those rates in other UK Overseas Territories and so it is only right and proper that we redress this now.
“The Premier and I have worked hard to ensure that this money goes into those areas where it is needed most – in education, health and in our security and protection of our borders.
It is also part of our ongoing reform process in the TCI public Service where we have been working hard to improve our management systems, especially in the area of performance management, and have been investing heavily in training and professional development through a number of programmes.”
Key principles are that the new Pay and Grading System must be transparent, fair, equitable and reflect the major differences in responsibility and skill levels. The new Pay and Grading System will allow the Public Service to have a structure for the proper and transparent management of remuneration.
The benefits of implementing the new pay and grading System are:
· A simplified structure for fair and equitable remuneration of public officers and waged staff
· Systems and structures that ensure accountability in allocating remuneration and rewards fairly and justly and according to procedure
· Line of sight between resources available to government with contribution made by effective people in well-designed jobs
· Linking performance and incremental progression
· Meeting equality of opportunity objectives
· Enhanced transparency and integrity.
There is now a new simpler scales for all jobs and pay in the civil service. There are 10 grades each with five pay points in the mainstream service. In recognition of the flatter management structure in teaching there are now five grades and 24 salary points; similarly given the rank structure in the Police there are six grades totalling 33 salary points. Previously there were two grade structures with 68 and 40 salary points respectively.
The cornerstone of the new pay and grading system is job evaluation which involved establishing grade level standards for each grade which are essentially a set of criteria that distinguish the compensable factors at the differing levels by describing features at each level.
The new system was developed through extensive consultation via a working group, including the Civil Servants Association, and the senior executive.
The Premier and Deputy Governor will go on to speak directly to civil servants at staff meetings in the capital Grand Turk and Providenciales on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
