Cabinet decides that owed increments be paid immediately to public officers
The Virgin Islands (VI) cabinet on February 15, 2023, has decided that the issuance of outstanding performance year increments to public officers, with arrears, for 2018 and 2019, must commence immediately and be substantially completed by end of the second quarter of 2023.
Additionally, the decision was made to pay eligible officers performance year increments for 2020, 2021, and 2022, without arrears initially, to be substantially completed by the end of the Third Quarter of 2023.
This is according to information coming out from the Deputy Governor’s office and in cases where officers are on the top of their scales, they will be paid a one-off payment the equivalent of the incremental value.
“Therefore, eligible public officers at the end of the entire processing period, will receive the payment of two (2) full increments (2018 & 2019) and see a change in their salary levels by five (5) incremental steps,” the release detailed.
The decision to commence the payment of
increments also comes as the Office of the Deputy Governor wraps up
several Compensation Review stakeholder meetings via focus-group
sessions have taken place with various stakeholder groups within and
external to the Public Service and led by consultancy firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services Limited (PwC).
Impacts of delayed increment payments highlighted
The Office of the Deputy Governor in partnership with the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Human Resources made presentations to Cabinet regarding the payment of outstanding increments to public officers which resulted in the decision being taken.
“The presentation to Cabinet highlighted the impact of the delayed increment payments on the Public Service, and the effect on the engagement and morale of public officers. Prior to 2013, the payment of performance increments was in accordance with General Orders, and perfectly married to the Performance Management Programme.”
“Due to the fluctuating fiscal challenges since 2012, which were further compounded by the disasters of 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic, the payment of increments was subsequently delayed.”
The decision to commence the payment of increments also comes as the Office of the Deputy Governor wraps up several Compensation Review stakeholder meetings.
“These focus-group sessions have taken place with various stakeholder groups within and external to the Public Service and is led by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services Limited (PwC),” the release noted.
