Civil servants to get 0.5-month year-end bonus, 0.95 month for full year

CIVIL servants in Singapore will get a year-end bonus of 0.5 month, as the economy is expected to see low growth this year, while lower-wage civil servants will be guaranteed a payment of at least S$900.

Together with the mid-year annual variable component (AVC) of 0.45 month in July, civil servants will receive a full-year AVC of 0.95 month in 2016, the Public Service Division (PSD) said in a release on late Friday afternoon. There are about 84,000 civil servants.

The year-end AVC was given against a backdrop of slow growth for 2016, said PSD. On Thursday, the government announced a 1 to 1.5 per cent forecast for growth in 2016.

This is 0.2 month lower than last year's full-year AVC of 1.15 months (with a minimum year-end payment of S$1,100). The economy grew 2 per cent in 2015.

"The lower AVC is in line with the lower economic growth for 2016 compared with 2015," said PSD. "The year-end AVC payment (including the minimum payment) was decided in consultation with the public sector unions."

Around 1,900 civil servants will benefit from the minimum AVC payment of S$900, said PSD.

"For example, an officer earning a monthly salary of S$1,500 will get a year-end AVC of S$900. This is S$150 more than what he would get at 0.5 month of his monthly salary (which would have been S$750)."

All civil servants will also get the Non-Pensionable Annual Allowance (NPAA) of one month, to be paid in December together with the AVC.