The government will suspend implementation of recommendations on grade-structure reviews that recommend increasing the salaries of civil servants.

Making the announcement yesterday, the government said it has received three reports by advisory bodies on civil service salaries and service conditions of the directorate, disciplined and some civilian grades. That covers a third of the civil-service structure.

The reports propose improving pay of veteran officers and government counsels to address the recruitment and retention difficulties of these two grades.

The reports also recommend increasing salaries of experienced directorate officers.

Secretary for the Civil Service Denise Yue said that considering the effect of the global financial crisis on the local economy, the government will defer implementing the recommendations that would increase government expenditures, at least until the local economy is back on track.

"The aim of the 'deferral' proposal is to enable the government to concentrate its resources on tackling the problems and challenges brought about by the global financial crisis," she said.

She stressed that the government is being pragmatic in deferring the proposals and may adopt them if the economy is steady in the first half of next year.

"We will be watching the data closely so as to implement the recommendations as soon as the economy is steady," she said.

The Civil Service Bureau will study the reports' findings and consult with departmental management, civil service representatives and legislators.

Civil service staff associations welcomed the reports' proposal and understood the government's deferral decision.

Leung Chau-ting, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Civil Servants Union, said he believes the proposals could help keep professional staff, such as veteran officers and government counsels, in the civil service structure.

He agreed that the salary-improvement proposals should be introduced when the economy is good, so as to avoid conflicts between the community and civil servants.

Yuen Fong-him, who represents the Disciplined Services Consultative Council, said the proposals will improve the civil servants' morale.

Sources said that if the proposals to improve salary and service conditions are implemented, they will cost the government an extra HK$725 million a year.

The sources added that releasing these proposals during an economic downturn isn't a waste of time, as the reports will be used to solve problems in the grade structure in the future.

(HK Edition 11/28/2008 page1)