Hong Kong Civil Service - Pay Policy and System

Pay Policy and System

It is the Government's established policy to offer sufficient remuneration to attract, retain and motivate staff of a suitable calibre to provide the public with an effective, efficient and high quality service. In order to ensure that civil service pay is regarded as fair and reasonable by both civil servants who provide the service and the public who foot the bill, the Government adopts the principle that the level of civil service pay should be broadly comparable with private sector pay. In 2003, the CSB embarked on an exercise to develop an improved civil service pay adjustment mechanism for long-term adoption in the civil service. The exercise has stemmed from the recommendations arising from the Review of Civil Service Pay Policy and System. Under the improved civil service pay adjustment mechanism, the conduct of periodic pay level surveys will be the principal means to ascertain whether civil service pay is broadly comparable to private sector pay and thus, in compliance with the established civil service pay policy. The CSB issued a consultation paper in November 2004, setting out the methodology of the pay level survey as recommended by a consultant and the proposals on the application of the survey results to the civil service. The field work of the pay level survey was to be carried out on the basis of April 2005 private sector pay, but implementation was delayed a year. In April 2007, the results were announced: 20 years after the previous such Pay Level Survey, none of the jobs in the public sector was found to be paid more than 5% above or below its private sector equivalent.

Apart from salaries, civil servants are eligible for various fringe benefits depending on their terms of appointment, rank, salary point, length of service, and other eligibility rules. Proactive steps have been taken over the years to modernise the provision of fringe benefits to civil servants. The payment of many fringe benefit type of allowances has been either ceased or tightened up for new recruits offered appointment on or after June 1, 2000 to reflect present day circumstances . In June 2004, the CSB has commenced a review on fringe benefit type of allowances to ensure that payment of civil service allowances is in line with today’s circumstances, to enhance control over government expenditure in this area, and to improve efficiency in the administration of these allowances.