Chairman of The Public Sector Pensions Authority (PSPA) Jerry Carter has announced the establishment of a joint working group including employee representatives to look at modernising the compensation and injury benefits payable to staff across Government.

The benefits, which provide for employees who are made redundant or who are injured at work, are linked to various pension schemes which have now been superseded by the Unified Scheme introduced in April this year.

The working group is chaired by PSPA vice chairman Alfred Cannan MHK, who explained:

 “Current compensation and injury benefits for the Island’s public servants have been in place since the 1980s. The employment landscape is now very different. As many of these benefits are based on the early payment of pension, they may encourage recipients to remove themselves from the labour market at a relatively young age.”

He added:

“The current benefit schemes are complex, to say the least. They do not treat all employees fairly as they vary according to which employment group you belong to, when you joined the public service and how old you are. The working group aims to address these issues and to consider what is a reasonable system for providing benefits in the future.  I hope this group can build on the implementation of the Unified Scheme earlier this year and develop, in collaboration with employees and employers, a set of proposals that both treat all public sector workers in a fair and consistent manner and are simpler to understand and administer.”

Mr Cannan said that in setting up the working group the PSPA was bringing employers and employees together to seek a common solution to employee benefit issues. He hoped this inclusive approach could produce agreement on proposals on which the Authority could then go out to formal consultation.