The Fiscal Review Committee says the current (outdated) civil service structure means that the Permanent Secretary is always the highest paid individual in the Ministry.
They have recommended that government should completely review and overhaul the current civil service pay and seniority structure to support retention of highly qualified professional staff in the practice of their professions.
The committee further says this means that highly qualified and experienced doctors, veterinarians, engineers, accountants and other highly-qualified professionals must aspire to an administration job to progress to higher pay.
They say this means that the work of skilled and experienced professionals is continuously lost to administration which is rarely work that they are qualified or experienced to perform well.
The committee further says this challenge can be addressed by ensuring that there is a separate pay structure for professional staff, shadowing private sector progression, that enables them to remain well rewarded as practising professionals in the public service while a separate stream of administrators progresses up the administrative ladder.
They say there is no reason why an experienced surgeon should not be earning as much as, or more than, the Permanent Secretary for Health.
