Her Majesty's Treasury (HMT) Delegation states that DFID's Staff Appointed In Country (SAIC) must be paid according to the local market. Overseas offices, therefore, need to undertake fundamental pay reviews to ensure that they are paying comparable wages to staff working for other local employers doing similar work.
Fundamental pay reviews should be undertaken every three to five years or when a Head of Overseas Office provides evidence to Human Resources Division (HRD) that the office is facing a recurring recruitment and retention problem. CPI inflation in-country should be monitored on an annual basis.
We should not lead the market, but our salary scales need to attract the right staff with the right skills. Pay is therefore determined by comparison with competing organisations in the local market taking into account affordability issues.
The range and depth of benchmarking/salary comparison exercises will vary, depending on whether it is a fundamental or interim/annual review. For annual reviews, overseas offices may take a lighter touch in surveying, for example, simply contacting comparators for details of their pay plans. All information must be saved.
Although SAIC have separate arrangements for determining their pay, they share similar arrangements with HCS staff for the award of bonuses related to performance.
1. An external benchmarking exercise to establish rates of pay and terms and conditions must be conducted by either external consultants or qualified DFID staff. Benchmarking exercises must conform to corporate guidance
2. Affordability must be factored into any pay deal
3. Treasury guidance insists that we consult with FCO locally when undertaking such reviews
4. DFID offices must collect tax at source or, where this is not practical, encourage staff to meet their own tax liability and offer them tax advisory support in doing so
5. Auditable records of all data used to produce pay proposals must be maintained on file and copied to SAIC section, HRD.
6. Regional Directors approval must be sought for all pay awards.
7. HRD are responsible for producing and maintaining corporate guidance and available to provide advice during the review process.
Staff or external consultants undertaking pay reviews must be able to show demonstrable experience of their ability to conduct such reviews.
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