PUTRAJAYA – The early incentive payment for civil servants will be paid on February 23, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.
The government is also fast-tracking a study and decision on the Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA) aimed at streamlining public sector salaries, he added.
“The prime minister chairs the committee (on the SSPA) and we will make a decision, latest in the next two months and then table it to the cabinet for a final decision.
“I don’t want to delay further by having so many committees… we want to fast-track,” Anwar, who is also finance minister, told ministry staff at an assembly this morning, here.
The early incentive payment is a payout pending completion of the SSPA study, which was initially scheduled for completion at the end of this year.
The payout, announced last October under Budget 2024, will benefit 1.6 million civil servants. All employees of Grade 56 and below, including those on contract, will receive RM2,000. RM1,000 will also be given to all main public sector (Jawatan Utama Sektor Awam) employees that include uniformed personnel and the armed forces, while all pensioners will also receive the same amount including pensionable and non-pensionable veterans.
“The early incentive payment will be paid in a lump sum on February 23, to ease the burden of back-to-school as well as Ramadan and Hari Raya preparations,” Anwar said.
The SSPA, meanwhile, is a comprehensive review of salary increments and allowances for the public sector.
It was announced previously that it was slated for implementation in 2025 and would come more than a decade after the last comprehensive review of public sector salaries and allowances in 2012. – February 6, 2024