Civil servants are set for a bump in their pay checks after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) increased house allowances across all job groups.
“The new rates for the house allowances shall apply to all public officers, other than state officers at the national and county government, including state corporations from the scheduled effective date of implementation. Respective employers in the civil service should initiate Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) with the relevant trade unions in the implementation of the reviewed/harmonised herein” a circular from the SRC confirmed.
Nairobi-based civil servants in job group A – who include messengers, drivers, personal secretaries, and cleaners – will see their house allowance go up from Ksh3,000 a month to Ksh3,750.
Civil servants living in all nine former major municipalities – Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Eldoret, Thika, Kisii, Malindi and Kitale – will receive the same housing allowance as per the new circular. Those in job group K, for instance, and based in the former major municipalities will see their house allowance increase from Ksh8,000 to Ksh12,000. In other former municipalities, those in Job Group K in other former municipalities will have their house allowance increased from Ksh3,500 to Ksh5,800.
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The figures are, however, still well below market rates considering rental prices in Kenya. In addition to the housing allowance changes, civil servants will receive uniform hardship allowance rates. This follows the SRC decision to scrap the system that pegged hardship allowance on basic salary.
“Hardship allowance is to be paid at a flat rate for all equivalent grades across the public service, both at county and national government. SRC has abolished pegging the allowance as a percentage of the basic salary” the commission said.
Civil servants in Job Group A will get a uniform hardship allowance of Ksh2,800 a month. Civil servants in job groups K, L and M will get Ksh10,900, Ksh12,300 and Ksh14,650, respectively while while the highest ranked, in job group T will get Ksh60,000.
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