Question on cases where salaries of public sector employees are not paid on time

Parliament Sitting: 6 March 2026

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: To ask 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.

Written Reply by Mr Chan Chun Sing, Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service

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 (PSD) and Accountant-General’s Department (AGD) continuously monitor and enhance our payroll systems and processes to ensure salaries are paid in a timely manner.