Chairman of Civil Service Commission defends pay rise

It’s a fixed increase across the board expected to cost government roughly £840,000 per year.

It’s sure to be a controversial move given the amount of scaling back and austerity measures affecting all departments and services. 

The increase has been backdated to the start of April and works out at an additional 1.08% on average. 

MHK Alf Cannan is the Chairman of both the Civil Service Commission and the Whitley Council; he has defended the move.

He said if government continue down the road of stripping back the civil servants and ‘whipping them to the bone’ the Isle of Man runs the risk of slipping into a ‘full blown recession’.

(AUDIO ABOVE)