Year-end Bonus For Civil Servants

24 Nov 2011

Singapore's 76,000 civil servants will get a 0.75-month of year-end Annual Variable Component (AVC) in December.

Together with the one-month Non-Pensionable Annual Allowance (NPAA), also commonly referred to as the 13th-month payment, the total year-end payment is 1.75 months, says the Public Service Division (PSD).

But there will be no Special Variable Payment, or what's known as the Growth Bonus, this year. The Growth Bonus is given out only when the Singapore economy does exceptionally well.

Last year, civil servants received one to 1.6 months of Growth Bonus, which was paid out in March this year.

On top of the year-end payment this year, civil servants received a mid-year AVC of 0.5-month and a one-off dollar quantum of S$250 in July.

Last year, civil servants received a mid-year AVC of 0.5-month and a one-off cash payment of S$300.

The Singapore National Employers' Federation (SNEF) described this year's year-end payment as a "good" one.

Meanwhile the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and its eight affiliated civil service unions said the year-end payment is "fair".

The labour movement added that the amount was concluded after close consultation and negotiations between the Public Service Division and representatives from NTUC and the civil service unions.

The NTUC said the amount rewards civil servants for their hard work and contributions and also takes into account Singapore's projected slower economic growth this year compared to 2010 as well as the higher costs of living.

Singapore's economy expanded 5.4 percent for the first three quarters of this year, and the forecast for the whole of 2011 is growth of around 5 percent, down from the 14.5 percent pace in 2010.

The Public Service Division said the year-end bonus is decided against the backdrop of heightened economic and financial uncertainties ahead.

Union leaders from the Daily Rated Workers Union are already advising their workers to start to save up more so that they can weather the upcoming storm.

Ma Wei Cheng, general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees, said: "There is always the training, the upgrading and how their income can be supplemented, how their conditions can be improved, and we will continue to do that for low-wage workers."

Channel NewsAsia understands that a dollar quantum was also proposed during discussions.

NTUC deputy secretary-general, Heng Chee How, said: "There was a dollar quantum in the mid-year instalment and so if you take as a whole then there is a dollar quantum within this AVC payment, and there is also the 13th-month (payment). So I would say the government has taken into account, in terms of AVC as a whole, the advantage the dollar quantum would give to the low-income."

As for the private sector, the Singapore National Employers Federation said it expects bonuses to vary with a company's and individual's performance.

It added that Singapore's economic growth in the fourth quarter could be around 3.5 percent and this may have a dampening effect on year-end bonus payments in the private sector.