An independent consultant has been recruited to develop a draft bill arising from the public Pension Policy and work closely with a team led by the Ministry of Labor & Social Affairs that includes senior representatives from the government.The aim is to draft the regulations that will govern the pension arrangements and its management structure. Although payroll data exist however, its credibility is questionable and could not be relied upon to do any meaningful pension calculations and forecasting.With the lack of a reliable and accurate database on public sector employees that could support a comprehensive analysis on pension management, the consultant has been given access to government offices to interact with officials and collect relevant information.Civil service staff involved in the process were equally assigned to benefit from skills, knowledge and technology transfer.
Initial consultations for data collection with key stakeholders began at the end of last year (2018) whereby the consultant had submitted a draft Pension Policy report with options suitable for the FGS in the first quarter of this year. The draft states the regulations that will govern the pension arrangements and its management structure but the consultant will also provide separate recommendations for severance packages for those redundant and retired civil service employees whom the government would like to relieve from the wage bill.The working committee has shared their comments to be incorporated for finalisation of the policy and in the 1st validation workshop in April.