Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced in Parliament on Friday (28 Feb) that public officers on the front line in the battle against COVID-19 outbreak will be awarded with a special bonus of up to one month.
“This will include many healthcare officers in the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the restructured hospitals, and some officers in other front line agencies who have been directly involved,” he said.
He added that other public officers who have contributed significantly will be recognised in “appropriate ways”.
“While we cannot thank them enough, we can show our appreciation and support in a tangible way,” he said.
Along with this announcement, Mr Heng also declared that all political office holders will take a one-month cut in their salary.
All Members of Parliament will also take a one-month cut in their allowance, and senior public service officers will take a half-month pay cut, he said.
“The President has informed me that she will join in to take a similar one-month pay cut,” he said.
“In the weeks and months to come we will need to draw deeply on Singapore’s reserves of resilience trust and solidarity. This unity of purpose across our whole society is what will see us through these challenging times,” he said.
Political holders get at least 10 months of bonus over past 5 years
In a written reply to Workers’ Party Non-Constituency Member of Parliament, Leon Perera back in 2018, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong answered that the average Performance Bonus (PB), and the range of PB received by Political Office Holders of all grades in 2017, was 4.1 months.
Based on the salary formula for political holders – that is in place since 2012 – adding the 13th-month bonus, Performance bonus, Annual Variable Component, and National Bonus, we get the chart below.
So for Ministers, based on the calculated figures according to the formula, we see that they would have gotten at least 10 months worth of bonuses.
