The Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) which was formed in 2010 to regulate salary administration for public sector institutions and FWSC said the review of the policy had become necessary after about ten years of its implementation.
Speaking to the pressman, the Head of Public Affairs of the FWSC, Mr Earl Ankrah said the Commission was putting a team together comprising all stakeholders from the public and private sectors to commence the review process soon.
According to Mr Earl Ankrah the review would focus on job evaluation factors, allowances and non-core allowances, consolidation of certain allowances under the basic pay, the premium, and performance management among others.
“A complete overhaul of the Single Spine is under serious consideration. It is about ten years since its implementation, and the consultant‘s recommendation was that the policy should be reviewed periodically,” Mr Ankrah, further stated.
Even though the policy's main objective is to mitigate inequalities in the public sector pay structure, its implementation over the ten period has not been fruitful, thus stakeholders and beneflciaries have agited that the policy had failed to solve the pending problem..
With this in mind, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for has consistently called for a review of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) some times past, stating that it has not served its purpose.
At an Economic Forum on the 2021 mid-year budget last year, the Director of the Labour Policy and Research Institute of the TUC, Dr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo said, “Pay in the public sector is still very low, pay inequities are still very wide and there is an energetic attempt by some public sector entities to exit the SSSS, with some having already exited, bringing us back to the previous situation when there were multiple bargaining sectors within the public sector,”
Mr Earl Ankrah called on all relevant stakeholders especially the beneficiaries of the SSPP and employers to come on board in the review process.
“It is a herculean task, which will involve all stakeholders. So, all the social partners will sit down and decide,” he added.