The system used to calculate civil servants' pay rises will be made more flexible to take into account different economic situations, the head of a government pay review taskforce said yesterday.
But Yeung Ka-sing warned against dumping the long-standing method to calculate pay increases simply because of the current economic downturn.
Under the system, civil service pay rises are calculated on pay trends in the private sector. However, it has been criticised for failing to take into account other factors such as cutbacks, down-sizing and bonuses.
Sixty-three per cent of respondents to a Liberal Party survey released on Saturday said bureaucrats had been overpaid, while 56 per cent supported streamlining the upper echelon of government.
Mr Yeung yesterday would not be drawn on the survey results. He said his group had not been told to slash civil service pay.
But he warned against changing the system simply because of the current economic downturn, saying doing this may force it to be changed again in the future.
