President appoints National Pay Commission to formulate National Wage Policy

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has abolished the National Salaries and Cadre Commission and established a 19-member National Pay Commission to advise and assist the Government in the formulation of a National Wage Policy as well as recommend a new methodology for payment of pensions, taking into consideration the Government‘s high pension bill.

The President, in his Budget speech on Thursday, said that there is an urgent need to formulate a National Wage Policy, as wage differences between the private sector and the public sector has widened, while pensionable services as well as Provident Funds have also expanded.

The President said he has appointed a Pay Commission to look into all these concerns and formulate a new pay structure for the Public Service which he hopes to implement as soon as they are made.The newly appointed Pay Commission will advise the Government on a National Salaries and Wages policy based on a continuous review of Salaries and Wages including monetary remuneration and various other non-monetary facilities of the Public Service, including the Provincial Public Serv- ice and the Armed Services, Special Institutions, Salaries of staff met by the Consolidated Fund, State Corporations and Statutory Boards, Government- owned Companies, State Enterprises, State Banks including Central Bank of Sri Lanka and other financial institutions.

The President has asked the new Commission to take into consideration alterations to be made in terms of employment, in order to attract competent individuals specialised in the fields of Management, Science and Technology, who are needed presently and in the future, to implement more meaningful socio- economic policies of the Government .

It will also study the need to rectify the existing salary anomalies occasioned by salary increases granted in terms of the recommendations of the Salaries Commissions previously appointed, or on an ad hoc basis, and recommend ways to make Public Sector as well as Private Sector employees to be content and motivated.

The Commission has to submit proposals on a salary and wage structure that would be a guide in minimizing anomalies that could exist between the Salaries and Wages drawn by professionals having comparable responsibilities or qualifications in the Public Sector and Semi- Government Sector, and to recommend to the Government from time to time, specific salary and wages revisions in order to prevent officers with professional qualifications and competence from leaving the Public Service, to take up appointment in the Semi- Government and Private Sectors.

The Commission will also review the systems of payment of various incentives and grants including gratuities currently operated by certain State institutions, and recommend more appropriate methodologies to determine the provision for such payments.

It will also make recommendations to the Government with regard to the adoption of the methodology in respect of the payment of pensions, taking into consideration the increase in expenditure incurred in the payment of Government pensions on account of the salary increases recently granted, as well as such salary increases that may be granted in the future, and the increased life expectancy, and also with regard to the age limit for retirement of officers in the Public Service.

The National Pay Commission is headed by Neville Piyadigama with Wimalasena Dissanayake as its Co- Chairmen and Bandulasiri Wijayaratne as its Secretary.