The Cayman Islands Government on Thursday 1 December 2016 took measures to mitigate pay stagnation for civil servants, as promised in its strategic policy statement delivered on November 2015.

Premier, Hon Alden McLaughlin, and Deputy Governor, Hon. Franz Manderson, jointly notified civil servants that Government had funded a pay increase for high performing personnel whose salary grades or pay points had not moved in a number of years.

“This increase is the final stage in a phased programme to remedy pay stagnation, which Government began in December 2015, with the award of increments to teachers and policemen whose pay had not increased for three or more years and who had received favourable performance evaluations”, Premier McLaughlin said.

Effective immediately the current changes will provide relief to some 1,500 employees who likewise have not experienced upward movement on their salary grades or pay points in the past three years or more.

Awards are as shown in attachment.

To benefit from these changes, civil servants must have earned a satisfactory performance appraisal.

Persons on required leave or extended sick leave will be ineligible until their return to work. The payments will commence in December 2016 and are not retroactive to past years.

Described as the final step in an overall programme to roll back austerity measures, officials say the award is as a one-off activity to address legacy issues and they do not expect the process to be repeated in the future.

Going forward a revised civil service pay policy that considers movement within grade is expected to be reissued in 2017.

Premier McLaughlin notes that the pay improvement was largely funded by savings within human resource budgets. Combined with Government’s prudent financial management the result he says creates repeated surpluses in public finances, some of which were reinvested to reward the productivity of the civil service.

“The hard work and sacrifices of civil servants played an essential role in helping us to reach this goal. I am pleased to lead a Government that takes care of the men and women who strive daily to do good work and to serve the Cayman Islands community,” the Premier remarks.

Thanking the Premier for approving the funds to implement the pay stagnation remedy, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson says that going forward civil service pay policies will continue to be closely tied to demonstrable results at both an individual and organisational level.

“We aim to be a world class civil service which values its employees and holds them accountable for their performance,” Mr Manderson remarks.

He adds that the launch in early 2017 of a five year strategic plan for the civil service should further improve the way that the civil service operates and delivers its core services.

Similar initiatives supported by Government have included: a one-time honorarium of 2.2 per cent paid earlier this year, an across-the-board cost of living adjustment of 4 per cent in 2015 and a 2.5 per cent honorarium given in 2014, which applied to all civil servants including new hires.