Civil Servants in Singapore to Receive 0.1 Month Year-end Bonus, Amount of Lump Sum Up to S$1,500

December 4, 20193:45 pm909 views

Civil Servants in Singapore to Receive 0.1 Month Year-end Bonus, Amount of Lump Sum Up to S$1,500

Most civil servants will get a year-end bonus of 0.1 month this year, with a one-off lump sum payment of S$250 to S$1,500, the Public Service Division (PSD) said on Monday (Dec 2).

Civil servants in the lower pay grades will receive a higher lump-sum bonus, with around 2,200 operations support officers receiving the highest amount of S$1,500, said PSD.

Senior civil servants in superscale grades will receive a one-off payment of S$400 in place of the year-end bonus or Annual Variable Component (AVC). This will affect about 1,700 officers in senior leadership positions, Channel News Asia reports.

All civil servants will also receive one month’s salary as their 13th month bonus. This will be paid in December along with the year-end AVC and lump-sum payments.

In July this year, civil servants received a mid-year AVC of 0.45 month and a one-off lump sum payment of S$200, with a higher lump sum of S$300 for those at lower pay grades.

The combined 1.55-month bonus civil servants will receive this year is the lowest since 2009, when they received a 13th month bonus and a one-off payment of 0.25 month.

This is also a sharp dip from the 2.5-month total bonus last year.

The PSD said it “will exercise restraint” for bonus payments this year due to “prevailing economic uncertainties”.

Singapore’s economy is forecast to expand by 0.5 per cent to 1 percent this year, with growth for the fourth quarter expected to remain modest, according to official data.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore in its annual Financial Stability Review last week urged local companies, banks and households to remain vigilant, amid increased uncertainties and expectations for prolonged sluggishness in global growth.

PSD said that this approach was agreed upon in consultation with the public sector unions.

“For this year, while we moderated the overall annual AVC for all civil servants, we will extend greater support for our officers in the junior grades. I am glad that our public sector unions supported this move,” said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing.

“I am confident that with the right values and continued hard work, we will ride out the choppy waters together.”

Assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Cham Hui Fong said that the public sector unions agreed to this “calibrated approach” of rewarding lower grade officers with higher payments.

With the lump sum, operations support officers can expect to receive a full-year AVC of more than one month, said Mr Sanjeev Tiwari, general-secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE).

“The civil service year-end payment for 2019 is reasonable as the economy is still uncertain,” added Mr Subari Samuri, president of the Amalgamated Union of Public Daily Rated Workers.

“I am appreciative of the Government’s efforts to support the lower-wage civil servants in this time of uncertainty.”

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