The Chief Executive-in-Council has decided to increase the pay for civil servants in the upper, middle and lower salary bands and the directorate at 2.5% across the board for 2022-23 with retrospective effect from April 1, the Civil Service Bureau announced today.

In arriving at this decision, the CE-in-Council has thoroughly considered the staff side’s response to the pay offers and other relevant factors under the established annual civil service pay adjustment mechanism.

Such factors include the state of Hong Kong’s economy, the Government’s fiscal position, changes in the cost of living, the net pay trend indicators and civil service morale.

The bureau said that in addition to civil servants, the pay adjustment will have a bearing on non-civil service contract staff, as well as the subventions received by subvented organisations and the pay of their staff. Any adjustment will have implications on government expenditure.

In view of the uncertainties in the city’s economic outlook and the expected fiscal deficit this financial year, the Government, as a responsible one, needs to be prudent in handling civil service pay adjustments.

The Government also affirms civil service colleagues’ efforts of over the past year, in particular, during the fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, over 140,000 government employees participated in anti-epidemic work, while at the same time striving their best to maintain public services.

Hence, after balancing all relevant factors, the CE-in-Council made the decision on the civil service pay rise.

After briefing the Legislative Council’s Panel on Public Service at its July 13 meeting, the Government will strive to submit the pay adjustment proposal to the LegCo Finance Committee for consideration by the end of the current legislative session.

It hopes to effect the adjusted pay together with the back pay to civil servants in August.

The bureau has informed the staff side representatives of the four central consultative councils and representatives of the four major service-wide staff unions of the pay adjustment decision this year.

In light of suggestions raised by staff side representatives during the pay adjustment exercise this year, the bureau will invite the Pay Trend Survey Committee to review the survey methodology in accordance with established mechanism before the commissioning of the next survey, and to consult the staff side in the process.