LOCAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET FRAMEWORK WORKSHOPS FY 2014 /2015

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3

MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SERVICE ISSUES PAPER

Presentation Outline

1.0 Introduction2.0 Budget Execution Issues for FY 2013/2014 3.0 Planning Issues for FY 2014/20154.0 Conclusion

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

This Issues Paper highlights key Budget execution issues identified during FY 2013/2014 and budgeting issues that need to be taken into account as Accounting Officers prepare budgets for FY 2014/2015. The areas covered include; Recruitment, Payroll Management, Wage bill Management and Pensions management.

2.0 BUDGET EXECUTION ISSUES FOR FY 2013/2014

The Ministry of Public Service issued Establishment Notice No.1 of 2013 which stipulates the key budget execution issues related to Wage bill and Payroll Management(Annex I)

2.1 Recruitmenta) Filling of vacant posts SHOULD ONLY be:i) On replacement basis arising out of attrition

such as abandonment of duty, resignation, retirement, dismissal or death during the course of the financial year.

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Recruitment…..

ii) After confirmation of availability of sufficient resources in the Budget that can cater for recruitment of new staff.

b) In this regard, submissions to the Service Commission for filling vacant positions MUST include a copy of the clearance letter from the Ministry of Public Service.

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Recruitment…..

c) An update on action taken with by the Ministry of Public Service on recruitment requests received so far is provided as Annex II

d) Accounting Officers should note that Ministry of Public Service WILL NOT provide clearance to recruit after 31st December 2013. In this respect, all requests will have been responded to by 31st December 2013.

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2.2 Wage bill Management

a) A number of votes have experienced wage shortfalls during the first quarter of FY 2013/2014 as result of insufficient funds on the Vote on Account.

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Wage bill Management…..

b) Following the approval of the budget for FY 2013/2014, appropriate allocations have been made for the affected votes. However Accounting Officers are required to continuously monitor their wage bill performance so that likely shortfalls are drawn to the attention of Ministry of Public Service.

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2.3 Payroll Management

2.3.1 Access to the PayrollDelayed access to payroll has continued to be experienced as a result of the following:

i) Deployment of staff to schools/institutions that have no positions/vacancies; e.g. Deployment of two dhobis to a District Hospital whose approved structure provides for one Dhobi or deployment of a Head teacher Gr. 11 to a Grade III School or deployment of a Head teacher A Level Day to an O Level Boarding school.

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Payroll Management….

Accounting Officers should ensure that: Before submissions for access of staff to the

payroll are made, availability of a vacancy or vacancies is confirmed.

Where Post Primary staff are deployed to institutions without vacancies, the Accounting Officer should write back to the Ministry of Education and Sports indicating that the officers cannot be accessed to the payroll therefore they should be redeployed else where.

However, Ministry of Education and Sports has been advised to ensure that staff are deployed where their positions are provided for.

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Payroll Management…..

ii) Non-submission of adjusted Primary School Establishment ceilings in line with the new format.

List of Local Governments that have not submitted the adjusted school ceilings to date is provided (Annex III)

The new format has been provided(Annex IV)

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Payroll Management….

2.3.2 Payroll Processing

a) To ease Payroll Processing and allow more Votes to undertake their own payroll data capture even if they are Non IPPS Sites, the Ministry is undertaking consultations and site assessments for Votes that are currently connected to IFMS but are not yet on IPPS, so that arrangements are made to enable them undertake data capture from their respective sites.

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Payroll Management….

b) Accounting Officers are urged to ensure that where there are cases of payroll changes that have not been effected, submissions are made to Ministry of Public Service for action.

Any payroll anomalies identified must be drawn to the attention of the Ministry as soon as they are noted.

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Payroll Management….

2.3.3 Payroll Validationa) Accounting Officers MUST ensure that

only bonafide Public Officers appear on their payrolls. They should therefore ensure that the payroll is verified on a monthly basis to confirm that the data therein is accurate and where corrections are required, appropriate submissions are made for action be taken.

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Payroll Management….

b) The List of emails that the Ministry of Public Service is currently using to submit Payroll Reports to Local Governments has been provided for review.( Annex V)

c) In the same respect, Institutional emails should be provided by all Local Governments that had not provided them as requested

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Payroll Management….

2.3.4 Printing of Payslips and Payroll Reports

a) Accounting Officers are reminded that the funds provided for printing of payrolls and payslips should not to be utilized for any other activity other than printing of the payrolls and pay slips.

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Payroll Management….

b) The payrolls MUST be shared with the Heads of Department including Head teachers for authentication to ensure that the right staff are on payroll, have the correct details and anomalies identified for correction.

c) Pay slips MUST also be printed and distributed to Staff through the Heads of Departments/Institutions for verification.

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Payroll Management….

d) Accounting Officers had been advised to submit signed copies of the payslips to Ministry of Public Service.

e) However this is to clarify that the signed copies should be filed on the personnel files for each Officer.

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Payroll Management….

2.3.5 Migration of the Payrolla) The Government Payroll is currently

processed at two centres i.e. on The Legacy (Old) Payroll System at Uganda Computers Services at MoFPED and on IPPS at MoPS

b) However records on the Legacy System will be migrated to the IPPS by 31st October 2013.

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Payroll Management….

c) All payroll changes will thereafter be submitted to the Ministry of Public Service using the Human Resource Data Entry Forms attached as Annex VII.

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Payroll Management….

2.3.6 Payment of Salary arrearsa) Accounting Officers should note that with

effect from FY 2013/2014, the modality for submitting residual salary arrears has been revised. INSTEAD of using the Residual Arrears Claim Forms, a schedule detailing the arrears should be submitted to Ministry of Public Service.

The Schedule has been provided(Annex VIII)

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Payroll Management….

b) The schedule should be compiled after the arrears have been verified by the Head of Human Resource, audited by the Internal Auditor and authorised by the Accounting Officer (in person).

Each page should be endorsed and stamped by the three officers.

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Payroll Management….

2.3.7 Hardship Allowancea) The Ministry of Public Service has received

requests to review the Hardship Allowance framework to facilitate consideration of other areas that are hard to reach.

b) In this regard, a review of the framework is being undertaken and if funds are availed other areas will be considered in future for inclusion in the areas to receive the Hardship Allowance.

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Payroll Management….

2.3.8 Retention Allowancea) It should be noted that Retention Allowance

for Health Workers is paid as and when requests are submitted by the Local Governments.

b) Where Medical Officers may not be receiving the allowance, submissions should be made to Ministry of Public Service.

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Payroll Management….

2.3.9 Payment of Science Teachersa) Payment in scales U4 (SC) and U5 (SC) will

only be possible after school information specifying the number of science and non-science teaching staff in each school and by position is provided.

b) This information is a prerequisite to updating of the IPPS Establishment structure for each school and mapping each science teacher into the establishment structure. This is in line with the current payroll establishment control requirements.

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Payroll management….

c) In the interim, the science teachers, who have complete information, will be paid a science salary top up, which is the difference between the science salary that each Officer should have been earning and the current salary.

In this respect, the top up will be paid effective October 2013 with arrears for July-September 2013:

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Payroll Management….

Summary of staff to be paid by Category

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S/no Category of Staff Number to be paid

1 Principals/Deputy Principals 31

2 Head teachers/Deputy Head teachers

40

3 Tertiary Institution Staff 146

4 Secondary School Teachers 4069

Payroll Management….

2.3.10 Payroll Deductionsa) Government is currently reviewing the procedure for managing payroll deductions. In this regard, all Accounting Officers are requested to note the following:i. Ministry of Public Service will not issue

payroll deduction codes to new Financial Institutions

ii. The guidelines on the management of the payroll deductions will be maintained until new ones are issued by Ministry of Public Service.

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2.4 Pensions Management

a) Payroll CleaningThe Ministry of Public Service has been

cleaning and updating the pension pay roll as directed by H.E. the President. This exercise is ongoing and payrolls will be provided periodically to the Local Governments for validation.

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Pensions Management….

b) Accounting Officers to endorse submissions for pension benefits

All submissions for pension benefits should be signed in person by the Accounting Officers, i.e the Chief Administrative Officers for districts and Town Clerks for Municipal Councils.

Submissions must be made at least six months prior to an officer’s due date of retirement with all the required supporting documents and using the pension forms specified in the Public Service Standing Orders, 2010.

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Pensions Management….

Accounting Officers should note that incomplete and late submissions result into delays in processing of pension benefits.

 c) Use of old pension formsThe Public Service Standing Orders, provide

for revised pensions forms which should be used while preparing pension submissions.

The Ministry of Public Service will no longer accept any submissions made using the old pension forms.

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3.0 PLANNING ISSUES FOR FY 2014/2015

Indicative Figures for wage provided have been based on the budget allocations for FY 2013/2014(Annex IX). They should be reviewed and any concerns drawn to the attention of Ministry of Public Service.

Final budgeting for salaries will be done through the Output Oriented Budgeting tool and should take into account;

Staff in post

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Planning Issues….

Staff recruited but not accessed to the payroll

Clearance given by the Ministry of Public Service to recruit new staff in FY 2013/2014

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4.0. CONCLUSION

In a bid to improve and strengthen Wage bill, Payroll and Pensions Management, Ministry of Public Service has recruited staff for a fully fledged Help Desk which will commence operation in January 2014.

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