Mid- to upper-level civil servants are set to be the biggest winners in a new six-year €1.2 billion financial package for public employees.

Civil servants on salary scale five are from next year set to receive an annual boost of €2,293 on their starting salary of €32,533.

This represents a 7% increase in their base pay for 2024.

The annual increment will rise to €2,386 in 2028 before maxing out at €2,480 in 2030.

Those on scales six to nine will all receive annual increases above €2,000.

Civil servants on scale 20, the lowest end of the scale, will receive an annual increment starting at €348.

This is still almost double the €198 annual increment received under the present collective agreement.

Those on the highest scale, including the principal permanent secretary, will also receive a healthy salary boost of €768 per year.

Some 33,000 civil servants are expected to benefit from these increases.

Agreement for approval by end November

The collective agreement is expected to be ready for formal approval by the end of November.

Civil servants who have already reached the maximum increment ceiling of their salary scale will still be in for pay increases, albeit at lower rates than those who have yet to hit the ceiling.

UĦM Voice of the Workers, one of the unions that led negotiations with government on the new scales, is set to present them for approval by their members this week.

It praised the collaborative spirit between all the unions party to the negotiations, saying such collaboration should be practiced more often.

Questioned about the agreement, UĦM Voice of the Workers CEO Josef Vella said the salary increments will be introduced in a way to ensure linear progression between pay scales.

Discussions about a new collective agreement for public service employees started in April and were chaired by the head of the Public Service, Tony Sultana.

A table shows salary increases according to scale.

Collective agreement set to include range of other benefits

Sources said the collective agreement is expected to include a range of other benefits. 

Overtime payments, previously capped at salary scale 10, have now been revised, and workers up to scale 7 performing overtime will be paid at the basic salary rate.

A qualification allowance will also be available for public service employees with an MQF Level 7 qualification.

Salary increases exclude others that have already been agreed upon and were granted in other sectoral agreements.

The unions that are party to the agreement include the GWU, UĦM Voice of the Workers, the Medical Association of Malta, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, the Malta Union of Teachers, the Malta Police Union, the Police Officers Union, the Union tal-Protezzjoni Ċivili, the Union Periti u Inġinieri tas-Settur Pubbliku and the Malta Chamber of Psychologists.