Cases where Salaries of Public Sector Employees Are Not Paid On Time
Ministry of FinanceSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the number of public sector employees who experienced late salary payments in 2025 and the available recourse, as raised by Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis. Minister Chan Chun Sing stated that 35 cases, representing 0.02% of the workforce, occurred due to administrative delays for new hires and were rectified by the following month. Affected officers can raise issues with their human resource departments, while the Public Service proactively engages staff to address any concerns stemming from system errors or outages. The Public Service remains committed to timely payments, with employees generally receiving their monthly salaries on fixed dates in the mid-month and at the end of each month. To ensure this, the Public Service Division and Accountant-General’s Department continuously monitor and enhance payroll systems and processes to maintain timely salary payments for all officers.
Transcript
23 Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) in 2025, what is the number of cases where monthly salaries of public sector employees are not paid on time; and (b) what are the recourse available to and compensation accorded to such employees.
Mr Chan Chun Sing (for the Prime Minister): The Public Service is committed to paying all public sector employees on time. Employees of Ministries and Statutory Boards receive their monthly salaries at fixed payment dates in mid-month and end of each month.
In 2025, there were generally no late monthly salary payments for eligible Ministry and Statutory Board employees, except for 35 cases involving new public officers where there was an administrative delay in updating their appointment records in the payroll system. This was immediately rectified and the officers received their monthly salary in the next month. These cases constitute about 0.02% of our over 158,000 officers.
Even with our efforts, instances of late payments could still arise, such as system errors and outages, that impact payroll processing timelines. In such cases, we aim to ensure any affected officer will receive his/her payment in the subsequent payroll. We also proactively engage the affected officers to keep them informed and address any concerns.
Officers who face late payment situations can raise the matter with their human resource department, who will look into their case and rectify the situation as appropriate. The Public Service Division and Accountant-General's Department continuously monitor and enhance our payroll systems and processes to ensure salaries are paid in a timely manner.