Improved Civil Service Pay Adjustment Mechanism

The Improved Civil Service Pay Adjustment Mechanism (the Improved Mechanism), implemented since 2007, involves the regular conduct of three sets of surveys to assess how the prevailing civil service pay compares with the pay in the private sector and, having regard to the findings of the surveys, whether and how the civil service pay should be adjusted. The three sets of surveys are pay trend survey, starting salaries survey and pay level survey. For further details of the development of the Improved Mechanism since 2003, please click here.

Pay Trend Survey and Annual Pay Adjustment

The pay trend survey (PTS), conducted on an annual basis, measures the year-on-year pay movement of employees in the private sector (categorised into three salary bands according to the dollar value of their remuneration). Since 2007 under the improved methodology endorsed by the Chief Executive-in-Council, smaller companies with 50-99 employees are included in the survey field of the annual PTSs and a gross-up factor of 25% is applied to these companies. For further details of the PTS and the annual pay adjustment, please click here.

Starting Salaries Survey

The starting salaries survey (SSS), to be conducted as and when necessary in response to specific circumstances, compares the prevailing starting salaries of different basic ranks of civilian grades (categorised by minimum qualification requirements) with the entry pay of jobs in the private sector requiring similar qualification requirements.  For further details, please click here.

Pay Level Survey

The pay level survey (PLS), conducted at six-yearly intervals, compares the prevailing salaries of different segments of non-directorate civil servants (categorised by job levels and job families) with their counterparts in the private sector. For further details of the 2006 PLS, please click here. For  details of the 2013 PLS, please see the LegCo Finance Committee paper at this link.