End to increments would penalise lowest paid in public sector

FERGUS FINLAY has, for the third week in a row, argued the case for a freeze on public service pay increments. While we don’t doubt the sincerity of his appeal for fairness and equity across all sections of society, his proposal would penalise the lowest paid in the public service, especially younger workers who are struggling most.

The number of increments on each workers pay scale varies significantly according to each grade. Secretary and deputy secretaries have single point scales and therefore have no increments. principal officers have six increments, assistant principals have seven. Further down the grades you’ll find executive officers with 11 increments of scale and clerical officers with 13.

This means that lower paid public sector workers have much further to travel before reaching the top of their salary scale, while the higher paid reach the top of their scales after a much shorter period of service.