BUDGET 2006-Salary increase to meet cost of living |12 December 2005

A study by the department concluded that the "reasonable minimum monthly expenses of a single adult employee," would come to R2,500 per month, almost R500 above the current minimum government salary.

Principal secretary for the Department of Administration, Mohammed Afif, said that government employees earning the minimum R2,025 monthly salary will now be given an additional R300 and that other policies announced in the Budget are expected to reduce the cost of living, thus lowering the R2,500 monthly estimate.

The department's cost of living estimate was done for a single person with no dependents and used a monthly accommodation rent figure of R500 and R1000 food expenses, amongst other items, to reach the R2500 total.

Under the Budget announcement, government employees earning between R2,025 and R2,920 will receive an additional R300 per month, those earning R2,925 to R3,920 an additional R200 and those in the R3,925 to R4,925 bracket will take home an extra R100.

PS Afif said that around 4,000 people will benefit in the first category, 1,800 in the second and 2,400 in the third.

According to PS Afif the salary increase will cost around R25 million over 12 months.
"The Department of Finance has been informed of the estimate and made provision in the budget for the salary increases, but they will be met from the organisations recurrent budget," he said.

The increases will apply to eligible employees working in government at the end of December 2005 and will come into force on January 1, 2006.

"The regulations apply to existing employees. For the new employees the employers will have the flexibility in choosing a salary point within the existing salary bands," said Mr Afif.

The salary top-ups come in advance of the results of the Public Sector Salary Review (PSSR) which are due to be released in February next year.

The PSSR has attempted to compare salaries paid for similar positions in the public and private sectors and is expected to report that public sector salaries are lower than those paid outside government.

"We expect the salary review to be completed by February and at that time if there should be need for major changes we will make them, once government has considered the recommendations," said Mr Afif.