1,105 Civilian Posts Within JCF to Be Regularised

A total of 1,105 civilians who work on contracts will be regularised in permanent posts within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

The move is in keeping with the Government’s commitment to reduce the number of contract workers within the public service.

Minister of National Security and Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, who made the disclosure during a statement in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (July 11), said that these workers will now be able to access the benefits afforded to permanent government employees, such as basic health insurance and a pension upon retirement.

“This marks a major and significant milestone in the practice of employing civilian workers to support non-policing functions in the JCF. These workers, for several decades, were employed on fixed-term contracts, which limited their access to critical health and pension benefits,” he noted.

Dr. Chang told the House that the Office of the Services Commission (OSC) audit covering the period August 1, 2018 to April 30, 2021, found that the JCF had a civilian staff complement of approximately 1,900 persons and close to 50 per cent were employed on a contractual basis as either casual daily paid (CDP) or part-time workers.

He said that the Ministry undertook the necessary consultations with the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service to increase the civilian establishment of the JCF to address this anomaly and to execute the new policy direction of the Government.

“This Administration… remains steadfast in its drive to create a public sector characterised by efficiency, productivity, and competitive salaries for the hard-working people of Jamaica,” he noted.

The duties performed by the civilian staff include administrative roles in areas such as accounting, human resource management, medical services, information technology, sanitation, and janitorial services.

Dr. Chang said that the work of the civilian staff is critical to the proper functioning of the organisation and allows the trained servicemen and servicewomen to focus more fully on core policing functions that directly combat crime.

He noted that by regularising their posts, the “practice of sending these workers home after more than 30 years of service with just a handshake, will now end”.

“While the change will result in an increase in the total compensation of workers, it is a necessary increase and will collectively benefit, what I consider to be among the most vulnerable group of workers in the institution of the JCF,” Dr. Chang said.

The development will benefit secretaries (17), records clerks (21), office attendants (348), cell attendants (26), mail attendants (47), female attendants (6), groundsmen (268), messengers (252), kennel attendants (3), motor-vehicle washers (111) and handymen (6).