How salaries for public servants are set by SRC

Among those who openly weighed in on the discussion was President William Ruto, who urged the SRC to exclude the review’s high-cadre officials.
However, the SRC, which is constitutionally independent of the executive, is still anticipated to wrap up what will be its third review cycle and publish adjustments to the public service’s compensation structure later this month.
What constitutes the SRC salary review?
According to the 2010 Constitution, the SRC must determine and periodically evaluate the salaries and benefits of all State offices and provide guidance to the federal and local governments on the salaries and benefits of all other public employees.
The SRC must make sure that the public service recruits and maintains the talent necessary to carry out its duties while also making sure that the wage bill is financially sustainable.
Can SRC forego a review cycle?
Following the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the SRC previously took into account the macroeconomic context and suspended compensation reviews for the whole public service, including State officers, for the previous two financial years.
How does the SRC determine the pay of State officials?
The SRC conducts a benchmarking survey on internationally chosen nations at the start of each review cycle.
The panel will, for instance, benchmark the salaries of the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Chief Justice, and the President, who serve as the three representatives of the three branches of government in democracies throughout the world.
The pay for each of the three posts will subsequently be determined domestically by the SRC using a price parity ratio.
This base is then used by the commission to determine pay for other state officials, such as the vice president, cabinet secretaries, senators, and members of parliament, all the way down to the lowest cadre of state officials, such as magistrates and county assembly members.
The public’s input will then be sought before the established salaries are published in the gazette as official.
How does the SRC evaluate pay increases for other public employees?
The SRC conducts a secondary survey of the local labor market and compares wages for comparable positions in both the public and private sectors.
The poll examines worker compensation at mid-level businesses, which is ideally representative of the labor market in the nation.
The survey allows the commission to determine the average income for each relevant function in the public and private sectors, giving it a sense of how much other public sector employees should be paid.
How will the SRC apply the poll results to determine pay for other public servants?
As an illustration, consider the assessment of a driver’s pay. Drivers will be employed by both public and private companies at various pay levels over time.
The SRC will map out the pay of drivers across the civil service and recommend that the midpoint (median/50th percentile) be set as the salary for a driver in the public sector.
If a driver in the public sector is paid less than the median, the SRC will advise that his or her employer raise compensation so that it is at or close to the median.
Should a driver in the public service have a salary over this mid-point, the SRC will not propose an increase in their wage.
Using this example, the SRC has already indicated it would not recommend a wage raise to workers in State corporations and secretariat personnel in commissions and independent agencies whose salaries currently average over the 50th percentile sweet spot.
On the flip side, State officers, workers in civil service at both national and local governments, teaching service and public university staff will qualify for an upward revision in pay.
The salaries of State officers have been planned to rise by 8% in this financial year and by seven percent in 2024/25.
Other public officers will meanwhile see their wages grow by 9% and 7% correspondingly during the following two fiscal cycles.
The review covers automatic annual increases at an average rate of 3% per year.
Does the SRC review procedure accord with internationally accepted standards?
The SRC has adopted the World Bank’s salary compensation ratio, which describes the relationship between pay for the highest salary to the lowest salary on the wage scale of the organisation.
The World Bank defines the salary compensation ratio as the ratio of the highest-paid employee to the lowest-paid employee.
The SRC has adopted this concept and approach in examining, determining and advising on salary and benefits for State officials and other public servants.
Did President William Ruto damage the independence of the SRC in differing with the planned reassessment of the salary of State officers?
According to the head of the SRC Lyn Mengich, the President’s comments would constitute to valid emotions expressed with the commission at the public involvement stage.
Ms Mengich believes the President reserves the power under the Constitution to seek information, including explanations, from constitutional commissions.
However, the President cannot suspend the compensation review procedure as it is incorporated in the Constitution.
According to Ms Mengich, President Ruto has the personal prerogative to reject a rise in his income as a holder of the office as the SRC only sets the compensation for the particular office and not the holder of the office.