The government has taken steps to increase the basic salary of all government employees from January 2025 by an average value of 24 percent to 50 percent with a view to forming an attractive and effective public service.
The Cabinet approved these reforms to be carried out in the public service from the very beginning of the next year, on August 12,
Chairman of the Committee appointed to look into the salary related issues of state servants, Udaya Seneviratne made these remarks while addressing media at the President Media Division yesterday. With the proposals of the committee, government servants are entitled to attractive salaries and benefits from next year, he added. Based on factors such as the educational qualifications, experience, responsibilities and roles performed by public servants, the current basic salary will be increased at least 24 percent for the lowest grades and correspondingly 24 percent to 50 percent for all public servicemen. It has been proposed to adjust the basic salary from January 2025 to an average figure of 50 percent. The 2025 budget will work to deliver in several phases depending on the available fiscal capacity, Seneviratne said.
Also, taking inflation and economic factors into account, cost of living allowance of Rs.25,000 each will be given unchanged for up to three years from January 2025 considering as the base year,
Accordingly, the basic salary of the lowest state employee will be Rs.30,000 and the total salary will be Rs.55,000 with the cost of living allowance.
For the pensioners, from January 2025, the cost of living allowance of Rs.12,500 each will be given and the unpaid salary increment of the pensioners, who retired before 2020 will be given and their pension will be revised accordingly.
“The public service plays a great role for the development of Sri Lanka and it is also the driving force of development. In order to give priority to the reconstructions that must be done in order to overcome all the challenges in the public service, to create a productive work environment for public servants, to provide excellent service to the people and to play a leading role in economic development, the state service is the nominal force. A comprehensive scheme for recruitment of state employees has also been presented,” he noted.
Aiming to create a friendly public service, a scientific work study is going to be conducted in the public service in the year 2025. Besides, this work study will be carried out with the aim of providing excellent public service to the people by developing the effectiveness and efficiency of the public service. This will implement a scientific programme to restructure the public service. This will make a proper assessment of the number of employees in the public service as per the requirement.
Moreover it has also been proposed to give increments to government employees based on performance. Accordingly, Appropriate Performance Indicators (KPl) will be introduced for government employees for the first time. The system of giving annual salary increments will be based on the KPI. It will also introduce incentives and other non-financial benefits based on their performance. When carrying out all these proposals the public service will not be a burden to the country anymore, he noted. In the state tax policy that has been introduced at present, steps are being taken to prepare the required number of public servants for a quality public service that will provide an excellent public service to the taxpayers. A competitive recruitment system based on the Sri Lanka Quality Framework (SLQF) and National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) will be established to consist of not more than one million government employees.
With the intention of providing distinctive and smart public service towards the public by developing the effectiveness and efficiency of the public service, a scientific work study in the public service will be carried out in the year 2025. Accordingly, a scientific programme will be implemented to restructure the public service to the due extent.
“A proper assessment of the number of employees in the public service as per the requirement will be carried out, accordingly. Taking measures to develop a government mechanism of optimal dimension for a quality public service enabling an distinctive government service to the tax payers within the present government tax policy introduced, a system for the recruitment of employees to the Public Service will be established through a competitive recruitment system based on the SLQF and NVQ, limiting the total number of government employees as one million. Thereby, an era where the qualified person deserves the right place will be created,” Seneviratne added.
Priority will be given to the government’s capital investment programme for E-Governance by pioneering digitisation and automation and introducing technology into the Public Service in every possible aspect, especially within the next three years from 2025. In particular, priority will be given to the implementation of E-Governance for the government Ministries and all the government institutions, commencing from the Grama Niladhari’s office, pioneering the performance of the institutions generating government revenue and institutions providing public services, he said.
Actions will be taken in the next three years to transform the identified public institutions into institutions beneficial for all by restructuring them from the traditional departmental model, dependent on the General Treasury for many years, to an innovative enterprise model. Action will be taken to introduce methods for optimal execution of certain government services by obtaining such services from external service providers while reducing the government’s expenditure and encouraging the private sector. This discourages the recruitment of redundant employees into the Public Service and allows private service providers and institutions to promote more effective services. Thereby, economic services will be expanded.
He further said that as a strategy to reduce the livelihood burden of the government employees, the “Agrahara Medical Insurance Scheme” will be restructured, reducing the health expenses to be borne by the government employees. Accordingly, it is planned to maximize benefits through the medical insurance scheme which is implemented with a contribution of Rs.1,000 per month from every government employee, including pensioners.
Similarly, the National Insurance Trust Fund which implements the Agrahara scheme will promote the comfortable medical service facilities for government employees by modernisation of the national hospital system through promoting hospital facilities with special amenities for government employees in the selected government hospitals in stage wise.
It is recently common for Sri Lankans to migrate abroad for employment opportunities and higher studies amidst the current demand for Sri Lankans in foreign countries, due to the reputation received by Sri Lanka in free education and the distinctive human resource.
“The trend of university students leaving the country is increasing due to insufficient current economic benefits. As a remedy for all these issues, it has been proposed to secure free higher education, provide legal and administrative independence to universities and provide space for conducting courses at an economic cost on a reasonable basis, by applying their physical and human resources in an effective manner. The additional revenue streams will be developed and all parties will thereby be benefited,” he added. Sri Lanka can be turned into a Centre for Knowledge through developing this system more effectively and integrating with foreign universities and higher education, training institutions and thereby expanding opportunities for international students to complete their higher education in Sri Lanka. It can turn into a leading sector of foreign exchange earnings for Sri Lanka.
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