RAF Mildenhall civilians to receive base pay increase equal to stateside GS employees

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Thomas Trower
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  About 160 Department of Defense civilians paid under the National Security Personnel System here will receive equal base salary increases to civilians paid under the General Schedule.

The Secretary of Defense determines a specific percentage of the GS base pay increase to apply to NSPS civilians yearly. According to Sara Hopkins, the civilian personnel officer for the United Kingdom, last year, NSPS workers received 60 percent of the GS pay increase and the remaining 40 percent went into the NSPS pay pool.

The pay pool was then divvied out to workers based on exemplary performance as determined by supervisor assessments and evaluations. However, for the performance cycle that ended Sept. 30 the Secretary of Defense determined qualifying NSPS civilians will receive 100 percent of the GS pay increase, she added.

Most civilians under the NSPS received about the same pay increases as they would have under the GS last year. Because of that, this change will not significantly reduce the amount of funds used to reward performance, said Brad Bunn, DoD executive officer for NSPS, who was quoted in a Sept. 29 report by the Armed Forces Press Services. But a report this summer by Defense Business Board officials found the system's pay pool process was complicated and confused most employees and supervisors.

"Most employees were getting [an equal pay increase], so paying it out as an across-the-board increase would not have a huge impact on our ability to still recognize and reward those high performers," he said.

Employees under the NSPS system who receive a satisfactory performance rating of 2 or higher will receive a salary increase equal to their GS counterparts, said Ms. Hopkins. Those who receive an unsatisfactory rating of 1 will not receive a base salary increase.

Defense officials felt this was the most "prudent course of action," given the problems reported with the NSPS, Mr. Bunn said.

The pay increase funds come from pots used for step increases, promotions between grades and cash bonuses under the GS. No changes are planned this year in how performance-based awards are paid.

Future changes to the NSPS need to tie an employee's performance rating more clearly to any subsequent salary increase, Mr. Bunn said.

The amount of the base salary increase will not be known until the president signs an executive order implementing the 2010 pay adjustment. The payment will be effective Jan. 3, 2010, and will be processed prior to any NSPS pay pool payouts that are effective also on the same date.