On 19 April, the Cabinet of Ministers approved an increase of EUR 27 528 335 for the compensation of officials with special service ranks in the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice. The government also approved creation of four additional posts in the Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior to strengthen staff resources in the field of cybersecurity, and increase in remuneration.
This funding is a very important contribution to strengthening the country’s internal security. Rising geopolitical risks in the Baltic region and in Latvia, require strengthening the capacity and capabilities of our services. Notably, this increase is not just for next year - we will continue to increase salaries by an average of 10% every year,” underlined Minister for the Interior Marija Golubeva.
Ensuring competitive remuneration of officials with special service ranks in the institutions of the internal affairs sector - State Police, State Border Guard, State Fire and Rescue Service, Internal Security Bureau, State Police College, State Border Guard College, Fire Safety and Civil Protection College - is one of the most important issues for stable and sustainable service results. It motivates officials to embark on and continue their service, and is a guarantee for strengthening the internal security of the country. Increased remuneration mitigates risk factors such as corruption, the socio-economic restrictions imposed during service, constant psycho-emotional stress, as well as the increased demands on health and physical training. Prospects for stable remuneration can help alleviate the growing negative trend in the number of vacant posts in the services.
The Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior (IC) has identified risks of increased intensity of cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure and IT solutions hosted by the IC. It leads to an unforeseen increase in security incidents that creates additional workload for their identification and investigation, and demands additional infrastructure resources for storing and processing information. The IC has made significant improvements in infrastructure upgrades and security equipment in recent years and has the necessary security solutions in place. There is insufficient availability of qualified personnel to investigate and remediate security incidents. Attracting additional cybersecurity specialists requires providing remuneration on par with the average labor market expectation, and for the existing eight senior specialists in the IC.
The additional four posts will be introduced with a corresponding reduction of long-term vacancies in the State Police.
The average salary increase for officials is foreseen to be on average 10% each year compared to the baseline expenditure on salaries in 2022, but detailed estimates of salary increases by salary group as well as estimates of increases in other types of remuneration will be forthcoming, when the Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, prepares and submits a draft Cabinet Regulation on amendments to Cabinet Regulation No. 806 of 13 December 2016 “Regulations on the Procedure for Determining Salaries and Special Allowances and their Amount for Officials with Special Service Ranks in the System Institutions of the Ministry of the Interior and the Prison Administration”.
The Cabinet of Ministers have planned for an increase of EUR 27 528 335 in the financial envelope for the remuneration in 2023 and annually thereafter. Meanwhile, the increase in funding and the creation of four additional posts in the Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior for 2023 and onwards is foreseen at EUR 621 152 annually, increasing the ministries’ base expenditure for 2023, 2024 and 2025 by EUR 28 149 487, - EUR 24 611 551 for the Ministry of the Interior and EUR 3 537 936 for the Ministry of Justice.
The issue of a gradual increase in remuneration for 2024 and subsequent years for employees of the institutions of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice, and the additional funding required for this, will be discussed in the Cabinet of Ministers during the preparation of the 2023 State Budget Draft Law and the 2023, 2024 and 2025 Medium-Term Budget Draft Law.
Prepared by:
Gunta Jansone
Ministry of the Interior
Head of Information Division
Phone: +371 67219363; 29494943
E-mail: gunta.jansone@iem.gov.lv