Government
TCI Gov’t announces $18 Million Pay Increase for Civil Service
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, December 5, 2023 – With bated breath, thousands of residents were clung to every word from the three top TCI officials managing the multimillion dollar salary review of Public Sector staff. In a Monday morning press conference broadcast live, all 1,919 workers learned they’re getting a minimum 10 percent increase in pay.
Undoubtedly heartening for significantly more civil servants, Anya Williams, Deputy Governor with oversight of the public sector revealed an up to 40 percent salary hike beginning this month.
It will cost the government $18.2 million to implement this first phase which will be seen in December paychecks.
The increase follows the government’s agreement to recommendations made during the 2023 Pay and Grading review, the first in 10 years.
“This is the largest single-phase increase ever implemented by the Turks and Caicos Islands government,” said Anya Williams, Head of the Public Service and Deputy Governor during the December 4 National Press Conference.
The Education Ministry got $3.9 million of the $18 million dollar budget for 374 workers.
The Health Ministry got $1.8 million of the budget for 173 Health Workers.
The Frontline Workers got $3.2 million of the budget for 378 workers and $1.7 million for 209 Senior Frontline Officers.
Police Officers got $1.4 million of the budget for 317 workers and Support Staff got 800,000 for 117 workers in that category.
Provo Allowances, Duty Allowances, and Child and Professional Allowances will all be added to the salaries of qualifying workers along with their increases. Williams broke down the increases by percentage and gave examples of what the salaries in each sector would look like across 11 levels or grades of staff from lowest to highest.
EDUCATION
Trained teacher’s salaries will increase – 12.8 percent
Graduate Teachers – 25 percent for a base pay of $48,320 yearly
Heads of Department – 29.9 percent for base pay of $56,037 yearly
Vice Principals – 42 percent $66,610 yearly
Principals – 57.1 percent $79,178 yearly
Williams said with this sizable shift, Turks and Caicos Educators are now among the highest-paid in the region.
HEALTH
Community Health Aides – 28.9 percent
Community Mental Health Nurse – 28.6 percent
Registered Community Health Nurse – 27.4 percent
Registered Nurse Midwife – 20.8 percent
Medical Officers – 22.9 percent
Along with their increase, Health workers will get a new pay grade structure
Frontline Staff
Staff in Grade Five (Immigration, Customs, Prison, Fire, Road Safety, Fisheries) will get an increase of 28.3 percent for a basic salary of $38,691 plus additional allowances for immigration
Senior Frontline Officers (Grade 6) – 22.5 percent increase for a base pay of $46,992
POLICE ;
District Constables – 18.8 percent increase
Constables – 12.2 percent for a base pay of $37,748
Sergeants – 12.8 percent for a base pay of $49,528
Inspectors – 12.6 percent for a base pay of $56,037
Asst Superintendent 13.6 percent for a base pay of $63,400
Superintendents – 17.7 percent for a base pay of $73525
The increases are in addition to raises and allowances given just last year.
Support Staff
Support staff (Grade 4) including administrative assistants get a 27.3 percent increase for a base pay of $32,550.
OTHER
The four employees classified as Grade two (2) staff will get a 40 percent increase and the 37 staff in Grade three (3)including Clerical Assistants get a 38.7 percent increase.
Additionally, 123 Senior Staff in Grade seven (7) will get a 19.1 percent increase; 93 staff in Grade eight (8)16.5
The Members of the House of Assembly also got an undisclosed increase.
The National press conference was watched well by well over 700 viewers who left almost 500 comments in the space of an hour, the vast majority were extremely pleased with the announcements, especially the new pay scale for teachers.
Initially, the objectives of the pay and grade review were to:
- Create a proper pay and grading system
- To create a reward-based system
- To ensure pay is equitable
- To ensure that overall pay levels, structure of payment, and terms and conditions are competitive
- To create a sustainable system within the budget
- To ensure the system is transparent and fair
With the increase in size and level of responsibility of the public service salaries were found to be far too low.
“The current levels of pay in the public service [were not] commensurate with the roles that staff play or with resident living conditions,” Williams said. The report also found that pay for public sector employees was ‘Significantly lower than other government statutory bodies, the private sector, and the region’ resulting in the welcome increase.