Perak: The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (CUEPACS) has proposed the formation of a joint task force to develop a more comprehensive justification regarding the improvement of the administrative assistant service scheme. CUEPACS president Datuk Adnan Mat said the proposal was presented during a meeting with the Public Service Department (JPA) held yesterday, alongside three options for upgrading the grade of the post.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the task force is proposed to include representatives from both JPA and the CUEPACS task force, as CUEPACS also has a special committee that has conducted studies and submitted findings related to the scheme. During the meeting, the three grade upgrade options, previously suggested by CUEPACS, were re-presented.
Datuk Adnan Mat made the remarks after attending the Perak State Administrative Assistants and Public Administration Reform Day Programme. Previously, CUEPACS submitted three proposals to JPA to improve the grades for the post. These included a grade increase from N1 to N5, a one-off implementation similar to schemes introduced in 2016 for those with academic qualifications, and automatic promotions after a certain number of service years.
On the proposal to extend the mandatory retirement age of civil servants to 65, Adnan noted that no final decision had been made as the matter was still under government review. He mentioned that in the future, there are expected to be two main schemes in the civil service: the Pensionable Permanent Scheme and the Contributory Permanent Appointment Scheme. The current government policy maintains retirement at age 60, but for the contributory permanent scheme, some adjustments may be needed, requiring further consideration.
Earlier, Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz reportedly said that consultations were ongoing between JPA, CUEPACS, and related parties, including retirees’ associations, regarding the proposal to raise the mandatory retirement age of civil servants to 65.