Soldiers receive extra pay and service allowance from July 3. Photo by Cpl Ashley Roach, 1JPAU(P)

How it all adds up Former level of Service Allowance – $7321 DFRT increase – to $8525 (about 16.4 per cent) WRA increase – three per cent of salary Total increase in dollars – $1460 New amount of annual allowance – $8781 Total net increase – about 19.9 per cent

At your service
19.9% increase in allowance

By Sgt Jonathan Garland
Pay and Conditions Reporter
SERVICE allowance has received a boost of nearly 20 per cent, with the new annual figure rising to $8781 from July 3.

The new figure is a combination of the Defence Remuneration Tribunal’s (DFRT) review and the new Workplace Remuneration Arrangement (WRA).

Director General Personnel Policy and Employment Conditions Sue Parr said it was a good result that recognised the unique demands that are part of the ADF.

“These are things like the liability of long working hours, short notice postings and living and working in uncomfortable conditions,” she said.

“My staff, and the staff from the three services who have spent months preparing this case and, indeed, all members of the ADF can be very pleased with the outcome.”

The ADF had sought an increase to the allowance of 20 per cent when the case was presented to the DFRT in April.

The DFRT called for further submissions and retired on May 28 to consider the matter, announcing their determination in Canberra on July 3.

Instead of announcing a percentage increase, the DFRT specified a dollar amount of $8525 for the allowance, an increase of about 16.4 per cent. The DFRT also ruled the WRA increase should be applied to service allowance, creating a net effect of a percentage increase of about 19.9 per cent, or a rise of $1460 from the previous amount of $7321.

The DFRT ruled this increase would not affect officers of Lt-Col and Col rank equivalents, noting the Remuneration Reform Project should address the salaries of these members in due course.

A statement released by the DFRT said service allowance compensated for the special demands of service life and that significant changes that impact on service life in general should be encompassed by the allowance.These include changes flowing from shifts in strategic policy, force structure and the disposition of forces.

“We consider the changes established by the evidence to be significant and that they justify an increase in service allowance,” the Tribunal said.

“The changes have resulted from a range of factors including the reduction of overall numbers of ADF personnel, civilianisation of non-combat functions, significant increase in operational deployments, increased range of tasks and the emphasis on readiness, mobility and deployability.”

New pay deal

Soldiers receive 3 per cent salary increase from July 3

SOLDIERS have more in their hip pockets from July 3 with the implementation of the final 3 per cent increase of the Workplace Remuneration Arrangement (WRA) 2002-2004.

This arrangement, which delivered a 4 per cent annualised increase in salary, remains in effect until May 6, 2004.

CA Lt-Gen Peter Leahy said although the current WRA does not conclude until May 2004, it was now timely to start work on the follow-on arrangement.

“The WRA is a major element in delivering such financial recognition for the effort and commitment of Army personnel,” he said.

In preparing WRA 2004-2006, the Army is moving to address a concern raised during the previous WRA that insufficient time was allocated for consultation and feedback from soldiers.

“The Army is firmly committed to ensuring members have the opportunity to have their say and for those views to assist my staff in formulating the Army position in relation to the new salary arrangement.

“The Army will be providing the mechanisms for the provision of feedback through a variety of electronic mediums to AHQ as well as through the chain of command.”

The last round of consultation tours noted a degree of confusion about what constitutes salary and what soldiers expected to be contained in the WRA.

CA said he intended his staff to conduct briefings on major bases to provide information and get soldiers views on what should constitute those elements of the new WRA.

“This is your chance to raise issues of concern relating to your remuneration package.”

Essential information

For further assistance on the background to the WRA, the conditions of service manual and salary-related matters, go to:
DPE:
Intranet: defweb.cbr.defence.gov.au/dpedsa
Internet: www.defence.gov.au/dpe/dsa
Stay Army:
Intranet: intranet.defence.gov.au/armyweb/Sites/STAYARMY
Internet: www.defence.gov.au/army/stayarmy
DPERS-A: http://intranet.defence.gov.au/armyweb/Sites/DPERSA

Timeline for consultation

The WRA process has several discrete phases as follows:

Phase 1 – Initial Communication and Consultation. This phase will concentrate on educating, informing and seeking comment from personnel on what should be considered as part of the WRA. Phase 1 will be substantially through electronic means and may be individual and/or unit and formation responses and will conclude in late August 2003.

Phase 2 – Issue of Draft WRA. The draft WRA will be distributed to the ADF before the main consultation briefs. This is expected to be distributed no later than August 31, 2003.

Phase 3 – Main Communication and Approval. This phase will be conducted during the period September – November 2003 and will consist of a series of presentations at Darwin, Townsville, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Puckapunyal and Canberra.

Phase 4 – DFRT hearing. The WRA is planned to be heard during the period April/May 2004 with the first pay rise with effect May 6, 2004.

Current pay structure

The WRA will remunerate against specific industrial criteria such as productivity and efficiency outcomes.

Salary and salary related issues are considered by the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal (DFRT) under section 58H of the Defence Act.

The DFRT does not have legislative authority to deal with other conditions of service, such as housing and leave.

There are other salary structures and salary related allowances that address other particular aspects of work value and general disabilities.

Personnel within Army are remunerated under several salary structures. Each of these structures, as its core purpose, will pay for work performed.

These are not to be confused with salary related allowances such as Service Allowance or Special Action Forces Allowance (SAFA).

The current structures are:

• A trades-based pay group structure that remunerates private to WO1. This is known as the other ranks pay structure and consists of seven pay groups aligned in accordance with work value principles. Work value for other ranks is determined by the Definitional Framework, which states the criteria that defines each pay group. Other ranks will receive salary increases through the review of their employment category and the WRA process.
• The officer common scale remunerates second lieutenant to major-general. Salary increases for second lieutenant to colonel will occur from the WRA. Brigadier and major-general have their own workplace arrangement known as the Star Rank Remuneration Arrangement (SRRA), which operates in similar terms to the WRA and is the process in which their salary is reviewed.
• Remuneration Tribunal remunerates statutory office holders (lieutenant– gen eral and general) and provides the means for their salary review.
• Specialist Officers Career structure / Specialist Officers Salary Structure (SOCS/SOSS) for legal officers, dental and medical officers and chaplains.
• Reserves and trainees have separate pay scales generally structured on a pro-rata basis of ADF salary and is tax free in nature.

The levels of military salary

Remuneration may take different forms for remunerating and compensating personnel. These levels of remuneration will have to be viewed in an holistic sense in order to understand your military salary.

Military salary for personnel will be different according to which workforce element you belong to and the job that you do.

The combination of the remuneration levels will indicate your military salary and, in broader terms, your remuneration package, which will include your compensation remuneration. The difference between the two is that military salary is superannuable.

Remuneration levels

• General ADF workforce efficiencies equals salary and salary-related allowances.
• Job skills and qualifications equals salary and environmental allowance (qualifications and skill element).
• General service disabilities equals Service Allowance and senior officers’ allowance and senior officers’ pay.
• Work disabilities and work environment equals salary and environmental allowance (disability element) and disability allowances.
• Attraction and Retention equals salary and environmental allowances (attraction and retention element) and retention bonus.

The remuneration relationship
Army remuneration and its relationship with the workforce is summarised as follows:

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